Role of Abscisic Acid in Thermal Acclimation of Plants

Abscisic acid (ABA) is a stress hormone that confers resistance to abiotic stressors, including drought, salt, cold, and heat. In general, antioxidant capacity and heat shock proteins (HSPs) mainly mediate ABA to enhance thermal acclimation in plants, but sugar metabolism and signaling also play critical roles in this response in the presence of ABA. Indeed, ABA accelerates sugar metabolism and transports more carbohydrates to spikelets under heat stress, which is beneficial to plants surviving under stressful conditions. Few studies have summarized the interactions among sucrose metabolism, signaling, and hormones in plants during heat stress, but this topic will likely attract more attention in the future. This article reviews the antioxidant capacity, HSPs, sugar metabolism, hormone crosstalk, and their interactions involved in ABA-induced heat tolerance in plants. Clarifying the underlying mechanisms will be invaluable for breeding heat-resistant cultivars and for developing new tissue culture techniques that reduce heat damage in plants.