Evolutionary Assembly and Future Design of Gibberellin Signaling

ABSTRACT Gibberellin (GA) signaling is widely regarded as a canonical hormone‐controlled growth pathway, yet accumulating evidence suggests that it emerged through stepwise evolutionary assembly rather than as a pre‐formed regulatory system. Here, we revisit the origin and diversification of the GA pathway from an evolutionary perspective. DELLA‐mediated growth repression arose during early land plant evolution and was later integrated into a hormone‐responsive framework following the establishment of GA biosynthesis and perception. The emergence of the receptor GID1 completed the core GA–GID1–DELLA module, enabling dynamic hormonal control of plant growth. Subsequent diversification of this module underpinned key agricultural innovations, including the semi‐dwarf traits of the Green Revolution. However, manipulation of GA signaling also exposed trade‐offs, particularly between reduced plant height and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). Recent advances reveal additional regulatory nodes linking GA signaling to metabolic and stress‐responsive networks, highlighting the importance of precise hormonal fine‐tuning. Looking forward, we propose that integrating comparative genomics, structural biology, protein language models, and artificial intelligence may enable rational rewiring of GA signaling, providing a blueprint for engineering climate‐resilient and resource‐efficient crops.