Crosstalk Regulation Between Vesicle Trafficking and Ion Transport in Plant Response to Abiotic Stresses.

Abstract

Vesicle trafficking and ion transport are two fundamental processes that coordinate plant growth, development and stress responses. Under environmental stresses, vesicular trafficking regulates the localisation, activity, recycling, and degradation of ion transporters, which, in turn, take vital part in maintaining osmotic, ionic and pH homoeostasis required for vesicle formation, sorting, and fusion. This review outlines the major vesicular trafficking pathways, vesicle types, and the key regulatory proteins involved in vesicle trafficking. It also provides an in-depth discussion on how vesicle trafficking interacts with ion transport systems during nutrient imbalance, heavy metal toxicity, salt stress, drought, osmotic stress, and pH disturbance. Across these abiotic stress regimes, recurring regulatory principles emerge, including post-translational modification-dependent transporter sorting, TGN/EE-centred cargo decision-making, SNARE-mediated coupling of vesicle fusion with channel activity, and feedback regulation between ion gradients and membrane trafficking. We propose that the crosstalk between vesicle trafficking and ion transport constitutes a dynamic cellular framework that enables plants to integrate environmental signals with ion homoeostasis and developmental plasticity. The synthesis advances our understanding of vesicle trafficking functions and ion transporters regulatory pathways, providing a comprehensive reference for research in this field.