Plasticity of metabolism in plants

The ability of plants to reprogram their metabolism in response to fluctuating environments, referred to as metabolic plasticity, is a key feature that enables sessile organisms to maintain growth, survival, and reproduction under changing conditions. As a mechanistic component of phenotypic plasticity, metabolic plasticity can buffer environmental perturbations and confer adaptive advantages. However, despite growing evidence for extensive metabolic remodeling under stress, the genetic and regulatory basis of this plasticity remains incompletely understood. Here, we review metabolic plasticity across major metabolic domains in plants, with emphasis on carbon, nitrogen, photorespiratory, and lipid metabolism, emphasizing how environmental cues and genetic regulation jointly shape metabolic responses. We conclude that, although metabolic plasticity is widespread in plants, its mechanistic and genetic basis remains incompletely understood; population-scale studies and mathematical modeling offer promising avenues to resolve this gap and extend current insights from model systems to crops.