Mechanism of ABA in Plants Exposed to Cold Stress

Abscisic acid (ABA) is a natural hormone produced in plants, which plays an important role in plant growth and development and in response to adversity. Increasing research indicates that ABA is involved in plant response to cold stress and enhances the cold tolerance of plants through various pathways. Therefore, the roles, regulator mechanisms and regulator pathways of ABA in plant response to cold stress are summarized. In this paper, we first discuss the mechanism of cold damage in plants. Second, we review the important roles of ABA in enhancing plant cold tolerance, including the interactions between endogenous and exogenous ABA, ABA and other substances, ABA and specific genes and transcription factors, and ABA and phosphorylation. On the whole, the involvement of ABA in the plant’s response to cold stress constitutes a complex and multi-dimensional system. ABA interacts with various factors, including hormones, enzymes, genes and so on, to establish a regulatory network that enhances plant resistance to cold injury. Finally, we also provide some perspectives for future research on plant ABA, and we hope that this paper can provide some lessons for future research on the mechanism of ABA involvement in plant adversity stress.