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The language of calcium signaling

Annu Rev Plant Biol. 2010:61:593-620. doi: 10.1146/annurev-arplant-070109-104628.

Abstract

Ca(2+) signals are a core regulator of plant cell physiology and cellular responses to the environment. The channels, pumps, and carriers that underlie Ca(2+) homeostasis provide the mechanistic basis for generation of Ca(2+) signals by regulating movement of Ca(2+) ions between subcellular compartments and between the cell and its extracellular environment. The information encoded within the Ca(2+) transients is decoded and transmitted by a toolkit of Ca(2+)-binding proteins that regulate transcription via Ca(2+)-responsive promoter elements and that regulate protein phosphorylation. Ca(2+)-signaling networks have architectural structures comparable to scale-free networks and bow tie networks in computing, and these similarities help explain such properties of Ca(2+)-signaling networks as robustness, evolvability, and the ability to process multiple signals simultaneously.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Calcium / metabolism*
  • Calcium Signaling*
  • Light Signal Transduction
  • Plant Proteins / metabolism
  • Plants / metabolism*

Substances

  • Plant Proteins
  • Calcium