Balancing growth and adaptation to stress: Crosstalk between brassinosteroid and abscisic acid signaling

Abstract Plant growth and development are plastic and canadapt to environmental changes. In this process different plant hormones coordinate to modulate plant growth and environmental interactions. In this article, we describe the individual brassinosteroid (BR) and abscisic acid (ABA) signaling pathways, emphasize the specific regulatory mechanisms between ABA and BR responses and discuss how both phytohormones coordinate growth, development and stress responses in plants. BR signaling is essential for plant development, while ABA signaling is activated to ensure plants survive stress. The crosstalk between BR and ABA, especially protein phosphorylation, protein stability control and downstream transcription control of key components of both pathways are discussed in terms of modulating plant development and stress adaptation.