Brassinosteroids and jasmonic acid signaling: a molecular roadmap to abiotic stress resilience in crops

Abiotic stress, a leading cause of global agricultural losses, poses a serious challenge to sustainable food production amid the growing world population. Understanding the key mechanisms that enable plants to maintain growth and survive under such stressful conditions is therefore essential. Among these mechanisms, plant growth regulators (PGRs) or phytohormones particularly brassinosteroids (BRs) and jasmonic acid (JA) play pivotal roles in promoting plant health and development. Both BRs and JA are crucial for numerous physiological and biochemical processes associated with plant growth, maturation, and defense responses to abiotic stress. These hormones function as central regulators in complex signal transduction networks involving gene expression, regulatory proteins, signaling intermediates, and other molecules that collectively protect plant cells from environmental stress-induced damage. Rather than acting independently, BRs and JA interact synergistically with other PGRs in intricate signaling cascades to enhance antioxidant defenses and preserve cellular integrity under stress conditions. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the molecular mechanisms underlying BR and JA signaling networks, emphasizing their crosstalk and cooperative roles in regulating plant responses to abiotic stress. Furthermore, it highlights the complex interplay between BRs, JA, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) during stress adaptation.