Cross Talk Between Light and ABA Signaling - Abscisic Acid: Metabolism, Transport and Signaling - page 247

Chapter 13
Cross Talk Between Light and ABA
Signaling

Rongcheng Lin and Weijiang Tang

Abstract The endogenous phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) and the exogenous
signal light regulate both distinct and overlapping processes in plant growth and
development. This review summarizes recent advances in our understanding of the
cross-regulation between light and ABA signaling, and their cooperative interac-
tions in modulating plant responses, including seed germination, seedling growth
and development, stomatal movement, and hydrotropic growth.

Keywords ABA · Light · Cross talk · Modulation

13.1 Introduction

Due to their sessile nature, plants are controlled by endogenous hormones and
influenced by environmental cues. As one of the most important environmental
signals, light plays critical roles in regulating diverse plant growth and develop-
mental processes, ranging from seed germination, seedling de-etiolation, phototro-
pism, shade avoidance, stomatal opening, flowering time, and circadian rhythms.
Accumulating evidence indicates that light interacts with many phytohormone
signaling, including abscisic acid (ABA), gibberellin (GA), brassinosteroid,
and ethylene, in controlling various plant response (for reviews, Seo et al. 2009 ;
Alabadi and Blazquez 2009 ; Lau and Deng 2010 ). ABA regulates many plant pro-
cesses that are also mediated by light, such as seed germination and seedling devel-
opment. The biosynthesis and function of ABA and its regulatory network were
extensively reviewed in the other chapters of this topic. The scope of this chapter
emphasizes advances in our understanding of interaction between light and ABA