FERONIA: A Central Hub Integrating Environmental Signaling and the Growth-Defense Trade-Off in Plants

During evolution, plants have developed a sophisticated regulatory network to adapt to environmental changes. This network enables plants to perceive external signals through cell surface receptors, transduce these signals intracellularly, and subsequently activate downstream signaling responses to modulate normal growth and development. The CrRLK1L family receptor-like kinase FERONIA (FER) perceives such signals by binding to RALFs or other ligands via its extracellular domain and transduces environmental cues by phosphorylating downstream proteins through its intracellular kinase domain. Recent studies have revealed FER as a central hub integrating multiple environmental signals, such as drought, salinity, and pathogen attacks. This review systematically summarizes the molecular mechanisms by which FER perceives and transduces environmental signals, with a focus on findings from Arabidopsis, and discusses its role in coordinating the growth-defense trade-off. We also briefly consider the potential relevance of these findings for understanding FER homologs in crops, an area that remains largely unexplored.