Ethylene interplay with metabolites in crops

Ethylene not only modulates fruit ripening, senescence of organs, and leaves and petals abscission, but it may play a pivotal role, together with other plant hormones, in regulating growth and differentiation in cells and plant tissues. In fact, notwithstanding its simple chemical nature, it is able to finely regulate plant metabolism from vegetative to reproductive stage requiring synergistic or antagonist interplays with other phytohormones and transcription factors. Ethylene exerts also beneficial roles on growth and yield of plants under stress, proving it acts as a key regulator of stress tolerance in plants. The present chapter provides an updated review of scientific advances regarding the multiple roles of ethylene and focuses on key aspects of recent research on regulatory networks controlling ethylene synthesis and its role in eliciting important changes in primary and secondary metabolism.