Conserved versatile master regulators in signalling pathways in response to stress in plants

Environmental conditions have forced plants to develop elaborated molecular strategies to surpass natural obstacles to growth and proliferation. Elements in multiple signaling cascades allow plants to sense multiple and simultaneous ambient cues, and establish an opportune defensive response. A group of versatile master regulators of gene expression are decisive to control plant responses to stressing conditions. For crop breeding purposes, the task is to determine how to activate these key regulators to enable accurate and optimal responses to stressing conditions. In this review, we discuss how and which master regulators are implied in the responses to biotic and stresses, their evolution in the life kingdoms, and the interaction with other molecular factors that lead to a proper and efficient plant response.