Repressors: the gatekeepers of phytohormone signaling cascades

Coordinated phytohormone signal transduction, in which repressors are the key players, is essential to balance plant development and stress response. In the absence of phytohormones, repressors interplay to terminate the transcription of phytohormone-responsive genes. For phytohormone signal transduction, degradation or inactivation of the repressors is a prerequisite, a process in which proteasomal degradation or protein modifications, such as phosphorylation, are involved. In this review, we summarize the various repressor proteins and their methods of regulation. In addition, we also shed light on other post-transcriptional modifications, including protein sumoylation, acetylation, methylation, and S-nitrosylation, which might be involved in repressor regulation. We conclude that repressors are the gatekeepers of phytohormone signaling, allowing transcription of phytohormone-responsive genes only when required and thus serving as a universal mechanism to conserve energy in plants. Finally, we strongly recommend that plant research should be focused further on elucidating the mechanisms regulating repressor abundance or activity, to improve our understanding of phytohormone signal transduction.