The calcium connection

It is well documented that many of the responses of plants to growth regulators, light, environmental stress and pathogen attack depend on changes in the cytoplasmic concentration of free calcium. However, the components of individual signal transduction pathways have not been well defined. Calcium-...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Trends in plant science 1997-04, Vol.2 (4), p.121-122
Main Author: Harmon, Alice C.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:It is well documented that many of the responses of plants to growth regulators, light, environmental stress and pathogen attack depend on changes in the cytoplasmic concentration of free calcium. However, the components of individual signal transduction pathways have not been well defined. Calcium-modulated proteins such as calmodulin and calmodulin-like domain protein kinases (CDPKs) are capable of both sensing increases in the cytoplasmic concentration of free calcium and effecting changes in cellular metabolism, and have been proposed to play central roles in calcium-dependent pathways. However, collecting evidence that connects CDPKs to these pathways has been challenging: There are no inhibitors that specifically inhibit this class of protein kinases without also inhibiting other protein kinases or calmodulin. Reverse genetic approaches are difficult, because CDPKs are multifunctional protein kinases encoded by large gene families.
ISSN:1360-1385
1878-4372
DOI:10.1016/S1360-1385(97)80982-X