More from less: plant growth under limited water.

When subjected to abiotic stresses, plants actively re-program their growth by modulating both cell division and cell expansion. Growth decreases rapidly upon stress onset but it recovers and adapts once stress conditions become stable. Here, we review recent advances in understanding the mechanisms underlying both stress-induced growth repression and adaptation with an emphasis on drought and leaf growth and we briefly discuss how this knowledge can be translated into crops. It is now clear that stress response of growing and mature leaves is distinct and should be studied separately. Both cell proliferation and expansion are regulated by common signaling pathways involving gibberellins and DELLA proteins while down stream effector genes are stage specific. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.