Nitric oxide and abscisic acid: two intimate collaborators regulating plant defense against drought

Drought represents one of the most pervasive and intensifying abiotic stresses under changing climate regimes severely constraining agricultural productivity, ecosystem stability, and global food security. Water deficit disrupts cellular homeostasis, reduces photosynthetic efficiency, and induces excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), resulting in oxidative damage. To survive under such conditions, plants employ a diverse array of adaptive responses, including osmotic adjustment, antioxidant defense, hormonal signalling, and stress-responsive gene regulation. Among the key signalling molecules involved in drought tolerance, nitric oxide (NO) and abscisic acid (ABA) have emerged as pivotal signalling molecules orchestrating a wide spectrum of physiological and molecular responses under drought. NO functions as a versatile signalling molecule that regulates redox homeostasis, enhances antioxidant activity, and promotes the accumulation of osmoprotectant. ABA maintains drought perception by inducing stomatal closure, and activating stress-responsive pathways. Co-application of NO and ABA regulates seed germination, root-shoot growth, and stomatal movement, thereby improving relative water content (RWC), membrane stability index (MSI), and photosynthetic efficiency while reducing oxidative stress markers such as malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). This comprehensive review navigates through a clear and integrative overview of the mechanistic role of NO and ABA, and at the molecular level, NO and ABA modulate drought tolerance through transcriptional regulation, mRNA-level control, and translational modification of stress-responsive genes. Additionally, emerging strategies, including plant-growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), marker-assisted selection (MAS) with QTL mapping, and genome editing tools such as CRISPR/Cas systems, offer promising approaches for enhancing drought tolerance and developing climate-resilient crop varieties.