Abscisic acid signal crosstalk during abiotic stress response

Abiotic stress is the prime limitation while meeting the requirement of agricultural products and feeding the world in upcoming era. During stress conditions, plants usually condense their developmental processes that eventually have an adverse effect on yield. In general, plant's response towards vulnerability or tolerance to the stress is a synchronized mechanism of several stress related genes, which further crosstalk with other constituents of stress signaling pathways. Abscisic acid (ABA) is the chief plant growth regulator (PGR) acting against abiotic stress and plays a substantial function in assimilating stress signals and directs downstream stress responses. As a result, plants need to regulate ABA levels consistently in accordance to the changing environmental conditions. Nevertheless, ABA does not act alone in playing its role. The control of stress adaptation and subsequent plant development is the result of synergistic or antagonistic crosstalk between ABA and other phytohormones. In the present review, we discussed the influential role of ABA in Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) signaling and its interaction with various PGRs. The focus has been given on the importance of crosstalk between ABA and other PGRs, such as cytokinin, auxin, gibberellin, ethylene, etc. in the modulation of plant growth and stress management.