HDAC-mediated non-histone deacetylation as a central regulatory network integrating crop growth and stress adaptation

Non-histone deacetylation is a widespread and reversible post-translational modification (PTM) dynamically regulated by histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs). Although initially characterized as a chromatin-associated mechanism controlling transcription, recent discoveries demonstrate that HDAC-mediated non-histone deacetylation extends far beyond gene regulation, targeting diverse transcription factors and functional proteins across cellular pathways. Here, we summarize advances in Arabidopsis, rice, and wheat recently, highlighting how non-histone deacetylation modulates protein stability and activity, and crosstalk with other PTMs to regulate developmental processes and coordinate plant responses to abiotic (salt, heat, cold, drought) and biotic (viral, fungal, oomycete) stresses. We further emphasize mechanistic insights establishing non-histone deacetylation as a flexible, multilayered regulatory system that fine-tunes crop growth and stress resilience, and propose that environmentally driven dynamic HDAC-HAT antagonism operates as a molecular switch balancing these processes. A deeper understanding of these regulatory networks provides new opportunities for rational crop design through molecular breeding and genome editing.