Coping with Stresses: Roles of Calcium- and Calcium/Calmodulin-Regulated Gene Expression  

Abiotic and biotic stresses are major limiting factors of crop yields and cause billions of dollars of losses annually around the world. It is hoped that understanding at the molecular level how plants respond to adverse conditions and adapt to a changing environment will help in developing plants that can better cope with stresses. Acquisition of stress tolerance requires orchestration of a multitude of biochemical and physiological changes, and most of these depend on changes in gene expression. Research during the last two decades has established that different stresses cause signal-specific changes in cellular Ca(2+) level, which functions as a messenger in modulating diverse physiological processes that…

• NS
  National Science Foundation
• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy
• NA
  National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• UD
  U.S. Department of Agriculture
• DA
  Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
• AR
  Advanced Research Projects Agency
• OO
  Office of Naval Research