Redox control of plant growth and development

Abstract

Redox changes determined by genetic and environmental factors display well-organized interactions in the control of plant growth and development. Diurnal and seasonal changes in the environmental conditions are important for the normal course of these physiological processes and, similarly to their mild irregular alterations, for stress adaptation. However, fast or large-scale environmental changes may lead to damage or death of sensitive plants. The spatial and temporal redox changes influence growth and development due to the reprogramming of metabolism. In this process reactive oxygen and nitrogen species and antioxidants are involved as components of signalling networks. The control of growth, development and flowering by reactive oxygen and nitrogen species and antioxidants in interaction with hormones at organ, tissue, cellular and subcellular level will be discussed in the present review. Unsolved problems of the field, among others the need for identification of new components and interactions in the redox regulatory network at various organization levels using systems biology approaches will be also indicated.

Keywords: Antioxidants; Asc; Compartment-specific redox control; DHA; Flowering; GSH; GSSG; Hormones; RNS; ROS; Reactive nitrogen species; Reactive oxygen species; dehydroascorbate; glutathione disulphide; reactive nitrogen species; reactive oxygen species; reduced ascorbate; reduced glutathione.