Understanding lipid-mediated defense mechanisms in plant responses to abiotic stress

Abiotic stress significantly limits plant growth, productivity, and survival, thereby posing a major challenge to global food security. Plants have evolved sophisticated mechanisms to perceive and respond to environmental stressors, with lipid-mediated signalling playing a central role in regulating stress adaptation. Lipid-derived molecules such as phosphatidic acid (PA), oxylipins (OXL), sphingolipids (SPLs), and inositol phosphates (InsP) act as key mediators in stress perception, cellular signalling, and metabolic reprogramming. These signalling lipids integrate environmental cues with major hormonal pathways, including abscisic acid (ABA), jasmonic acid (JA), ethylene, and auxin signalling, orchestrating a coordinated response to stress conditions. This review examines the distinct roles of signalling lipids in drought, salinity, osmotic, and temperature stress tolerance while also exploring their interaction with key stress-responsive hormones in orchestrating plant adaptation to environmental challenges. Recent studies reveal that lipid modifications not only regulate ion homeostasis and antioxidant defense but also fine-tune hormone-mediated adaptive responses. Despite significant advancements, knowledge gaps remain in understanding the precise molecular mechanisms underlying lipid-hormone crosstalk in stress resilience.Although lipid profiling studies have identified stress-responsive lipid changes, the spatiotemporal dynamics of lipid metabolism in response to different stress intensities and durations are not well understood. How specific lipid modifications contribute to stress memory and priming is an emerging area of interest. Addressing these gaps is crucial for developing targeted strategies to enhance crop stress tolerance. Future research integrating lipidomics, genetic engineering, and multi-omics approaches will be essential for optimizing lipid-mediated stress responses in plants. Leveraging these insights can contribute to improving agricultural sustainability and developing climate-resilient crops.