Harmony but Not Uniformity: Role of Strigolactone in Plants

Abstract

Strigolactones (SLs) represent an important new plant hormone class marked by their multifunctional roles in plants and rhizosphere interactions, which stimulate hyphal branching in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and seed germination of root parasitic plants. SLs have been broadly implicated in regulating root growth, shoot architecture, leaf senescence, nodulation, and legume–symbionts interaction, as well as a response to various external stimuli, such as abiotic and biotic stresses. These functional properties of SLs enable the genetic engineering of crop plants to improve crop yield and productivity. In this review, the conservation and divergence of SL pathways and its biological processes in multiple plant species have been extensively discussed with a particular emphasis on its interactions with other different phytohormones. These interactions may shed further light on the regulatory networks underlying plant growth, development, and stress responses, ultimately providing certain strategies for promoting crop yield and productivity with the challenges of global climate and environmental changes.

Role of Promising Secondary Metabolites to Confer Resistance Against Environmental Stresses in Crop Plants: Current Scenario and Future Perspectives

“…They can be employed to stimulate parasitic plant seed germination by promoting nodulation during interaction activities ( Kapulnik and Koltai, 2014 ). In addition, SLs have a role in biotic and abiotic reactions ( Aliche et al, 2020 ; Rehman et al, 2021 ; Brewer, 2022 ).…”

How do arbuscular mycorrhizas affect reproductive functional fitness of host plants?

“…Strigolactones (SLs) (carotenoid derivatives) also participate in the germination process of seed. AM fungus colonization increases SLs (GR24) the synthesis and SLs accumulation of SLs (GR24) in seeds, thus which can improving improve seed germination (Mohanty et al, 2018 ; Faizan et al, 2020 ; Rehman et al, 2021 ). In a recent study on the role of alternative oxidase (AOX) and sucrose in seed germination, it was found that the increase of intracellular sucrose content was not conducive to seed germination, but seeds significantly alleviated sucrose stress and effectively restored normal respiration during germination and then increase germination percentage after AM fungus inoculation (Bharadwaj et al, 2021 ).…”