Calcium plays pivotal role in regulating the physiological as well as
developmental processes in plants. Till now, several calcium sensors
have been discovered, which regulate the diverse signaling pathways
involved in plant growth and development. One of the major calcium
sensors CBL (calcineurin B-like) is decoding the calcium signal during
various environmental stresses in plants. Calcium mediated signal is
transduced downstream by CBL-interacting protein kinases (CIPKs), which
generally phosphorylate the target proteins such as transcription
factors or transporters/channel leading to a response. Mutant based
approach has provided valuable information in the functional analysis of
individual members of CBL and CIPK gene family in Arabidopsis. Both
CBL and CIPK gene families have previously been identified and
characterized in Arabidopsis and rice. Identification and
characterization of CBLs and CIPKs in other plant species such as
Oryza sativa, Pisum sativum, Cicer arietinum, Zea mays, Populus
euphratica, Vitis vinifera, Malus domestica, Gossypium hirsutum,
Sorghum bicolor, Brassica napus, Vicia faba, Phaseolus vulgaris,
Ammopiptanthus mongolicus and Triticum aestivum are still in
juvenile stage.
Overall, Global Comparative Analysis of CBL-CIPK Gene Families in
Plants is a comprehensive study focused on the diverse role of CBL-CIPK
module in different stress signaling and also to identify a newly
emerging role of this calcium-signaling module in plant growth and
development across different plant species. In addition, beside
Arabidopsis, it will provide backbone of knowledge to perform a detail
molecular investigation in crop plant species and could possibly enable
in designing strategies to tame abiotic stress tolerance and development
in important agronomical crop plants. This book will act as handy and
informative source in this field for students as well as advanced
researchers.
