Overview of Sustainable Plant Growth and Differentiation and the Role of Hormones in Controlling Growth and Development of Plants Under Various Stresses

Abstract

Plant development is different from animals by many fundamental aspects; as they have immobilized cells, a rigid cell wall, and the large central vacuole. Plant growth and cell division are restricted to the specific area of the shoot and root called meristems. Plants have the ability to carry out differentiation, dedifferentiation and redifferentiation. In plants, the growth and differentiation processes are controlled by hormonal and genetic factors. Phytohormones can exert independent/ dependent actions on plant growth and development. A pool of stem cells is placed at the niche of the apex meristem, which is the source of self-renewal of the cell system and its maintenance to provide cells to differentiated tissues. A complex interaction network between hormones and other factors maintains a balance between cell division and differentiation. Auxins promote the growth, gibberellins’ function in seed germination, cytokinin’s influence on cell division and delay leaf senescence; abscisic acid promotes the stomatal closure and bud dormancy, while salicylic acid promotes resistance against different diseases. Plants are often exposed to different abiotic and biotic stresses, for example, heat, cold, drought, salinity etc., whereas biotic stress arises mainly from fungi, bacteria, insect, etc. Phytohormones play a critical role in well-developed mechanisms that help to perceive the stress signal and enable the plant’s optimal growth response. In this review, we studied both the intrinsic and extrinsic factors which govern growth and differentiation of plants under normal and stress condition. This review also deals with genetic modifications occurring in the cell and cell signaling during growth and differentiation.