Beijing – As global climate scenarios become increasingly unpredictable, drought remains one of the most severe abiotic stresses limiting plant growth and agricultural productivity. While roots are the first organs to perceive water deficits, the precise hormonal mechanisms that allow plants to adapt by elongating their primary roots under drought conditions have remained poorly understood. A new comprehensive review sheds light on this critical survival strategy, revealing how the plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) integrates with other hormonal signals to drive primary root elongation.
Roots are essential for water uptake, making their elongation critical adaptive strategies during water scarcity. Most existing studies have focused on the inhibition of primary root growth under drought stress, whereas research showing that drought stress can stimulate primary root elongation is limited, and the underlying regulatory networks have been elusive. This review synthesizes data from multiple plant species, confirms the promoting effect of drought on primary root growth, further elucidates the role of abscisic acid (ABA) in enhancing primary root growth under drought conditions, and discusses the possible synergistic regulation among ABA, ethylene, auxin, and cytokinin that collectively promotes primary root elongation.
Meanwhile, the review systematically investigates several physiological processes that contribute to this adaptive response. These include cell cycle regulation, osmotic adjustment, and the dynamic growth patterns of lateral roots. By dissecting the complex crosstalk within this highly coordinated hormonal network, researchers have uncovered how plants balance their developmental priorities to survive harsh environmental cues.
Ultimately, this study aims to translate these fundamental biological insights into practical agricultural solutions. By understanding how plants naturally modify their root system architecture to withstand drought, scientists propose feasible strategies to enhance crop drought tolerance. These targeted approaches could be vital for securing global food supplies in the face of future climate challenges.
Original source : Hui Jiang, Yuan-Yuan Zeng, Xu-Dong Liu, Francisco J Corpas, Md Mahadi Hasan, Feng-Ping Li, Xue-Qian Tian, Yu-Hang Zhang, Rui-Yun He, Xiang-Wen Fang (2026) Rooting for survival: ABA-mediated hormonal integration driving primary root elongation under drought stress. J Plant Ecol 19:rtaf172. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtaf172
About the Journal
Journal of Plant Ecology (JPE) ( https://academic.oup.com/jpe ), founded in 2008, is led by Professor Yuanhe Yang (Institute of the Botany, CAS) and Professor Bernhard Schmid (University of Zürich) as Co-Editors-in-Chief. The journal is jointly sponsored by the Botanical Society of China and the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and is published by Oxford University Press. According to the latest Journal Citation Reports (JCR), JPE has an impact factor of 4.5 and is ranked in the Q1 quartile in the categories of Ecology, Forestry, and Plant Sciences.
Journal of Plant Ecology
Literature review
Rooting for survival: ABA-mediated hormonal integration driving primary root elongation under drought stress
16-Mar-2026
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