Plants balance growth and stress adaptation through two conserved kinase systems, the target of rapamycin complex (TORC) and Snf1-related kinases (SnRKs). Under favorable conditions, TORC drives growth by integrating nutrients, energy, and hormone signals, while under stress, distinct SnRK modules reprogram metabolism to enhance tolerance. This review summarizes recent advances in understanding TORC–SnRK crosstalk and highlights how this signaling axis coordinates plant growth and stress responses, providing insights for improving crop performance under fluctuating environments.

Stomata are microscopic pores on the leaf surface that regulate the exchange of carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapor (H2O) between leaves and the atmospher

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: Coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) are the largest trees in the world and exist only in a specific stretch of coastal habitat in northern California and southern Oregon. A new study finds that rising temperatures in the area could negatively impact the trees’ ability to perform evapotranspiration, a process where a leaf’s mouth-like pore, called a stomata, releases moisture to cool down. By analyzing leaf physiological data, gathered monthly across a two-year period, scientists found that under extreme heat, leaves could be nearly 20 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the surrounding air temperature due to the breakdown of this crucial biological process. Millions of years before some distant ancestor of Homo sapiens split off from gibbons, the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) emerged from the mists of evolution. For millions of years, this mighty tree, the tallest in our planet’s history, spread across the northern hemisphere. But eventually, cyclic climatic changes forced it to retreat to the foggy banks of the northern California and southern Oregon coasts. Then humans—that restless ape lineage, now walking upright and wielding saws—pushed this incredible plant to the very brink, leaving only 5 percent of its natural range intact...