Structural Insights into Plant Hormone-Sensing Mechanisms

Plant hormones are essential small molecules that regulate plant growth, development, and systemic responses to environmental stimuli. These processes are mediated by complex signaling networks involving structurally diverse receptors, regulatory proteins, and dynamic protein–protein interactions. Advances in structural and functional biology over the past two decades have revealed how hormone receptors recognize their ligands and how they mediate responses from perception to signaling through transduction pathways and feedback regulation. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of plant hormone receptors with experimentally determined structures and highlight their central roles in shaping plant biology. Finally, we discuss outstanding questions in the field and how emerging computational tools may help address these gaps.