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Updated: Oct 1, 2025

Monitoring Plant Hormones During Stress Responses
Published on: June 15, 2009
Jasmonate: A hormone of primary importance for plant metabolism
Trang Hieu Nguyen1, Alain Goossens1, Elia Lacchini1
1Ghent University, Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Technologiepark 71, B9052 Ghent, Belgium; VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, Technologiepark 71, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium.
Abstract:
Over the years, jasmonates (JAs) have become recognized as one of the main plant hormones that regulate stress responses by activating defense programs and the production of specialized metabolites. High JA levels have been associated with reduced plant growth, supposedly as a result of the reallocation of carbon sources from primary growth to the biosynthesis of defense compounds. Recent advances suggest however that tight regulatory networks integrate several sensing pathways to steer plant metabolism, and thereby drive the trade-off between growth and defense. In this review, we discuss how JA influences primary metabolism and how it is connected to light-regulated processes, nutrient sensing and energy metabolism. Finally, we speculate that JA, in a conceptual parallelism with adrenaline for humans, overall boosts cellular processes to keep up with an increased metabolic demand during harsh times.
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