Recent Posts

The vacuolar H+/Ca transporter CAX1 participates in submergence and anoxia stress responses (Plant Physiol)

Calcium (Ca) signaling is one of the primary plant responses to confront abiotic stresses. To coordinate Ca levels in the different compartments of the cell, several transporters are needed including the H+/Ca exchangers (CAXs) in the tonoplast (vacuolar membrane). While the role of calcium signaling…

Always prepared: priming of the defense response by trichomes (Nature Comms)

Rain contributes to plant disease.  Rain can contain high concentrations of pathogens (like Pseudomonas, Xanthomonas, Alternaria, Fusarium sp., etc.), and high humidity associated with rain antagonizes stomatal closure, leaving open entry points for some pathogens. Matsumura and colleagues have demonstrated…

TT2 controls rice thermotolerance through SCT1-dependent alteration of wax biosynthesis (Nature Plants)

Global warming severely affects agricultural harvests, risking food security. To deal with heat stress, plants show different strategies. Indeed, heat increases intracellular Ca2+ levels to activate a heat shock response. In addition, GTP-binding proteins, which transduce extracellular signals to intracellular…

Review: Illuminating the hidden world of calcium ions in plants with a universe of indicators (Plant Physiol)

Calcium ions (Ca2+) are ubiquitous and essential signals, with a very steep concentration gradient from outside to inside the cell. Numerous studies from across the kingdoms have demonstrated that transient Ca2+ fluxes convey information of many types. Here, Grenzi et al. provide an Update on the tools…

Review: Alternative splicing as conserved mechanism to regulate CDPKs? ($) (TIPS)

Calcium-dependent protein kinases (CDPKs/CPKs) are an interesting class of proteins present in plants, algae and some protists that are thought to “sense” and “respond” to spikes in intracellular Ca2+ signaling events. While multiple mechanisms have been proposed to be involved in the regulation…

Waves of information: Simultaneous imaging of ER and cytosolic Ca2+ dynamics reveals long distance ER Ca2+ waves in plants (Plant Physiol.)

Calcium (Ca2+) signaling regulates a host of stress and developmental responses in plants. Apart from increases in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]Cyt.), organellar signals play a key role in shaping the cytosolic signaling events. In an attempt to understand the Ca2+ dynamics in the endoplasmic…

Stretched by Stress: PIEZO1 is a mechanosensitive ion channel in Arabidopsis (PNAS)

Plants are constantly susceptible to mechanical stress and they have evolved intracellular signaling mechanisms to adapt to mechanical stimulation. Whilst it is known that ion channels activate signaling pathways in response to mechanical stress, only few of these mechanosensitive channels have been…

Review: One cell, many signatures: Organellar Ca2+ signaling (Plant Physiol.)

Calcium ions (Ca2+) occupy a primary position in plant cell signaling processes by virtue of their role as the so-called second messengers. Ca2+ signaling underlies plant response to various abiotic, biotic and developmental cues. Whilst this Ca2+ signaling was thought to predominantly occur in the cytoplasm,…

Cold translation: Ribosome-mediated translation inhibition senses cold stress in plants (bioRxiv)

A drop in ambient temperature adversely affects plant growth and development. While the primary molecular pathway in response to cold stress involves the expression of CBF transcription factors, Guillaume-Schöpfer and colleagues found cold stress-induced inhibition of ribosome translation machinery…