Advancements in balancing of growth and stress response in horticultural crops

Horticultural crops employ two complementary strategies, stress resistance, and growth inhibition, to cope with adverse environmental conditions. While stress response contributes to plant survival, growth inhibition may adversely affect crop productivity. Our current understanding of stress-regulated plant growth is limited when compared to the knowledge of how horticultural crops defend against stress-induced cell damage. The interplay between stress response and growth regulation pathways occurs at multiple levels. Therefore, understanding the delicate balance between stress resistance and growth is imperative for the development of high-yielding, resilient crops. This review introduce the crosstalk between stress response and growth regulation with relevant progress in horticultural crops, in order to provide reference for breaking or resetting the trade-off, then engineering the resistant but high-yielding crops.