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Cytokinins as central regulators during plant growth and stress response

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Abstract

Key message

Cytokinins are a class of phytohormone that participate in the regulation of the plant growth, development, and stress response. In this review, the potential regulating mechanism during plant growth and stress response are discussed.

Abstract

Cytokinins are a class of phytohormone that participate in the regulation of plant growth, physiological activities, and yield. Cytokinins also play a key role in response to abiotic stresses, such as drought, salt and high or low temperature. Through the signal transduction pathway, cytokinins interact with various transcription factors via a series of phosphorylation cascades to regulate cytokinin-target gene expression. In this review, we systematically summarize the biosynthesis and metabolism of cytokinins, cytokinin signaling, and associated gene regulation, and highlight the function of cytokinins during plant development and resistance to abiotic stress. We also focus on the importance of crosstalk between cytokinins and other classes of phytohormones, including auxin, ethylene, strigolactone, and gibberellin. Our aim is to provide a comprehensive overview of recent findings on the mechanisms by which cytokinins act as central regulators of plant development and stress reactions, and highlight topics for future research.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful for financial support from the National Natural Science Research Foundation of China (U1906204, 31871538), the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFD1000700, 2018YFD1000704), Shandong Province Key Research and Development Program (2019GSF107079), the Development Plan for Youth Innovation Team of Shandong Provincial (2019KJE012), the Science and Technology Demonstration Project of "Bohai Granary" of Shandong Province (2019BHLC002).

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  1. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Stress, College of Life Sciences, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, 250014, Shandong, China

    Si-Min Li, Hong-Xiang Zheng & Na Sui

  2. State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Life Sciences, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an, 271018, Shandong, China

    Xian-Sheng Zhang

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  1. Si-Min Li
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Li, SM., Zheng, HX., Zhang, XS. et al. Cytokinins as central regulators during plant growth and stress response. Plant Cell Rep 40, 271–282 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-020-02612-1

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