Growth-defense tradeoff in rice: The role of gibberellic acid catabolism

Upon herbivore attack, phytohormonal crosstalk mediates metabolic programming to prioritize defense responses over growth (Erb and Reymond, 2019). However, how cellular resource allocation is wired into an effective defense response in plants is still largely unknown. In this issue of The Plant Cell, Gaochen Jin and colleagues (Jin et al., 2023) investigate mechanisms underlying the growth-defense tradeoff during herbivore attack. This work reveals novel players controlling plant growth and defense and shows that resistance against herbivores can be achieved without growth penalties by engineering complex hormonal networks.