Calcium Signaling in Plants

The growth and development of plants and eventually their productivity are profoundly impacted by internal signals such as hormones and by the environment in which they grow. Research during the last three decades has established that calcium is widely used as a messenger in transmitting growth and developmental cues and stress signals into appropriate responses. Many signals cause rapid stimulus-specific changes in cellular Ca²⁺, which are referred to as “Ca²⁺ signatures”. The changes in cellular Ca²⁺ are sensed by plethora of Ca²⁺ sensors, which regulate diverse cellular responses. Functional analyses of Ca²⁺ sensors and their target proteins are providing a glimpse into how this simple ion regulates diverse cellular processes. Here we present an overview of Ca²⁺ signaling in plants and summarize recent progress in this area.