Brassinosteroids as phytohormonal shields against micro- and nanoplastic stress in plants

Phytohormone and nanoparticle crosstalk as a unified mechanistic paradigm for sustainable plant stress management

Biotic and abiotic stressors, including climate crises, are affecting plants’ metabolic and developmental processes, which negatively influence crop performance and the overall resilience of agroecosystems. In response to these stressors, plants have evolved multifaceted defense mechanisms at morphological, physiological, and molecular levels. With the advent of nanotechnology, an emerging field in plant sciences, particularly in agriculture, offers sustainable solutions for the greater benefit of mankind. The potential of nanotechnology as nano-fertilizers in agriculture is immense, offering advantages such as high efficiency, eco-friendliness, and cost-effectiveness. Nanoparticles are crucial in modulating plant physiological and biochemical responses, including activating antioxidant defense mechanisms and regulating hormones. They can mitigate excessive reactive oxygen species production under severe stress, help regulate phytohormone signaling, and minimize excessive stress. However, understanding the intricate interactions between nanoparticles and phytohormone synthesis is still in its early stages. For sustainable agricultural production, it’s an urgent requirement to grasp these interactions and to track their regulatory functions to manage abiotic stress-related situations. This review explores the current status and future potential of genomic engineering to enhance abiotic stress tolerance, and the interplay between phytohormones and nanoparticles in alleviating plant stress responses in agriculture. Finally, we identify critical knowledge gaps to inform the development of future climate-smart cultivars and sustainable agricultural practices.

Role of Plant Growth Regulators and Biological, Chemical, Nutrient, and Nanomaterial-Based Approaches in Mitigating Micro- and Nanoplastic Stress in Agroecosystems.

Evidence shows that stress mitigators can reduce MNPs-induced stress by improving rhizosphere microbial communities, increasing plant growth and photosynthetic efficiency, and regulating biochemical, transcriptomic, and metabolomic responses.

Brassinosteroids as Central Regulators of Plant Growth, Stress Tolerance, and Agricultural Resilience

Overall, BRs represent promising targets for improving crop stress resilience; however, optimizing BR-mediated strategies and validating their long-term performance under diverse field conditions will be essential for their successful application in sustainable agriculture.

Harnessing halophyte phytochemicals and biostimulants to enhance crop resilience under climate stress: a comprehensive review

Global food security is increasingly compromised by the synergistic pressures of soil salinization and the climate-mediated proliferation of resilient agricultural pests and weeds. Halophytes, extremophile plants naturally adapted to high-salinity niches, represent an underexploited reservoir of bioactive compounds and microbial consortia with significant bioeconomic potential. This review synthesizes the multi-functional utility of halophyte-derived bioactive compounds in mitigating contemporary environmental stressors through two primary lenses. First, we discuss the biochemical efficacy of halophyte-derived secondary metabolites and essential oils (EOs) as sustainable biopesticides, highlighting their potency against taxa that exhibit increasing resistance to conventional synthetic inputs. Second, we evaluate the mechanistic role of halophyte-associated rhizobiomes and biostimulants in enhancing the physiological plasticity of glycophytic crops. Specifically, we detail their capacity to modulate antioxidant defense systems, maintain ion homeostasis, and alleviate osmotic stress under saline environments. Lastly, we delineate the phytochemical stability and non-target safety of halophyte plant extracts and essential oils. By synthesizing current ecotoxicological data, we illustrate how these biogenic inputs offer superior selectivity, safeguarding beneficial entomofauna and soil microbiota while maintaining high efficacy against target insect pests. By bridging the traditionally disparate domains of phytochemical pest control and rhizosphere engineering, this review proposes a holistic biotechnological paradigm. We conclude that the transition toward halophyte-based solutions offers a strategic, circular-economy pathway to stabilize food systems and safeguard public health, providing a robust bio-based alternative to synthetic agrochemicals in increasingly marginalized landscapes.

Harnessing Biocompatible Bio-based Nanoprotectants for Phytohormone Modulation and Heavy Metal Detoxification in Sustainable Crop Production.

Bio-based nanomaterials (BNMs) have emerged as promising modulators of plant growth hormone (phytohormone) signaling pathways under combined heavy metal (HM) stress conditions. This review investigates how BNMs influence hormone-regulated stress signaling networks to improve plant tolerance to HM stress at biochemical, molecular and physiological levels. Plant extract and microbial-mediated synthesis strategies use biological metabolites as reducing and stabilizing agents, providing environmentally compatible routes for agricultural nanomaterials. BNMs may influence phytohormone-regulated stress responses through multiple, partly interconnected mechanisms, including surface-mediated interactions, redox modulation, metal chelation and transcriptional regulation of hormone-related pathways. By combining ROS attenuation, metal chelation and stress-responsive gene regulation, BNMs may help preserve phytohormone biosynthesis and signaling while reducing HM toxicity. This review highlights how BNMs reshape gene expression networks associated with phytohormone biosynthesis and signaling, including abscisic acid, ethylene, auxin and jasmonic It also examines how these nanomaterials enhance plant defense systems by upregulating stress-responsive genes and antioxidant enzyme activities. Furthermore, we discuss current challenges in synthesis standardization, scale-up, delivery efficiency and field validation, together with future directions for optimizing BNM-phytohormone interactions under multiple metal stress. Finally, this review highlights BNMs as environmentally compatible tools for improving crop performance in HM-contaminated soils, while emphasizing that precise hormone-pathway targeting requires further mechanistic and field-level validation.

Reprogramming Plant Salt Tolerance: A Systems Biology Perspective on Algae-Derived Elicitors and Biostimulants.