Abstract Understanding how developmental programs intersect with stress signalling is essential for improving plant adaptive capacity. Here, stage‐resolved transcriptome data were integrated with physiological stress readouts (drought and salinity). Specifically, drought and salinity treatments were used to examine how wall remodelling and redox metabolism are co‐regulated during leaf maturation in Arabidopsis thaliana . Differential expression analyses revealed a gradual transition from extensibility‐associated cell wall modification to mitochondrial redox stabilisation, and identified six hub regulators— CESA8 , XTH15 , ESK1 , AOX1A , SOT12 and NAC13 —that occupy topological cores linking carbohydrate metabolism with oxidative energy dissipation. Independent physiological assays demonstrated that drought and salinity treatments elicited bona fide stress states, reflected by reduced leaf area, altered flowering time, and increased MDA and proline accumulation. A three‐way ANOVA performed on qRT‐PCR data confirmed that treatment, time, and tissue interaction significantly influenced ( p < .05, F ‐test) the expression dynamics of hub genes and benchmark markers. Specifically, XTH15 and AOX1A showed prominent induction in roots, while CESA8 and NAC13 exhibited coordinated shoot activation. Notably, sugar metabolism was characterised by a strategic down‐regulation of INV1 alongside the induction of SUS1 and TPS1 , aligning with a statistically significant decline in total soluble carbohydrate content. This congruence across molecular and biochemical layers supports that these developmental signatures represent authentic redox‐osmotic adjustment. Among the detected regulators, XTH15 , SOT12 and NAC13 remain mechanistically undercharacterised and represent tractable targets for CRISPR‐based functional genomics. Overall, our results suggest that the AOX1A – NAC13 + CESA8 – XTH15 axis constitutes a pre‐configured structural–redox buffer, providing a mechanistic framework for stress‐aware crop engineering.
Bayram Ali Yerlikaya (Thu,) studied this question.