Light-Controlled Plant Development: Photomorphogenesis and Crosstalk with Hormonal and Environmental Signals

Light is one of the most influential environmental cues governing plant growth, development, and adaptation. Through sophisticated photoreceptor systems and downstream signaling networks, plants perceive light quantity, quality, direction, and duration to fine-tune developmental programs across the life cycle. Light-regulated processes such as photomorphogenesis, shade avoidance, phototropism, seed germination, and flowering are not controlled by light alone; instead, they are tightly coordinated with endogenous hormone pathways and other environmental signals, particularly temperature, enabling plants to optimize growth and survival in fluctuating environments. In recent years, rapid advances in technologies such as single-cell transcriptomics, spatial transcriptomics, and three-dimensional genome organization have greatly deepened our understanding of light signal perception, transduction, and its regulation of plant growth and development. These approaches have revealed unprecedented spatial, temporal, and cell-type-specific resolution of light signaling networks and their integration with hormonal and environmental cues. At the same time, research on plant light signaling is expanding beyond laboratory model species toward field-grown crops, providing new opportunities to translate fundamental discoveries into agricultural applications.This Research Topic aims to bring together cutting-edge studies focusing on plant light signal transduction and its crosstalk with temperature and other environmental signals, as well as interactions between light signaling and endogenous hormone pathways in regulating plant growth, architecture, and yield. We welcome contributions employing genetic, biochemical, cell biological, omics-based, and systems biology approaches, including studies in both model plants and crops. By integrating mechanistic insights with translational perspectives, this Research Topic will provide a comprehensive view of how plants decode complex environmental information through light-centered signaling networks and how this knowledge can be leveraged to improve crop performance, adaptability, and productivity.To gather further insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying light signal perception and transduction, as well as the crosstalk between light signaling and other environmental and endogenous hormonal signals, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:1. Identification of novel components and regulatory mechanisms in plant light signaling pathways.2. Molecular mechanisms of crosstalk between light signaling and hormone pathways, including auxin, cytokinins, gibberellins, brassinosteroids, ethylene, salicylic acid, jasmonates, and strigolactones.3. Molecular mechanisms by which light signaling integrates temperature signals (cold, high temperature, and heat stress) and other environmental cues such as drought and abiotic stress responses.4. Systems biology, multi-omics, and computational analyses of light-centered regulatory networks.5. Translational research applying light signaling knowledge to improve crop architecture, productivity, and environmental resilience.Studies using both model plants and crop species are encouraged. Interdisciplinary approaches integrating genetics, biochemistry, cell biology, omics technologies, and computational analyses are particularly welcome. Topic editors: Jiajun Wang, Fang Lin, Renbo Yu, Enamul Huq, Bochen Jiang Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/77240/light-controlled-plant-development-photomorphogenesis-and-crosstalk-with-hormonal-and-environmental-signals