CBL-CIPK Paradigm: Role in Calcium and Stress Signaling in Plants

Plants are constantly challenged with nature’s fury in the form of various abiotic and biotic stresses. Abiotic stresses such as cold, salt, dehydration and heat act as mal-factors and lead to aberration of the plant from its normal process of growth and development. All these stresses impede the productivity of the plants and prevent them from reaching their full genetic potential. Indeed, abiotic stress is the primary cause leading to worldwide crop loss and dipping the average yield for most crops by more than 50% [1]. In addition, increased salinity of arable land is expected to have devastating global effects, resulting in up to 50% land loss by the middle of 21 century [2]. In response to these stress factors various genes gets up-regulated which can mitigate the effect of stress and lead to plant adaptation. In nature, stress does not generally come in isolation and many stresses coexit with each other. Resistant plants seem to reflect the “Darwanian concept” of the survival of the fittest. For their survival, plants activate several signaling pathways, which intern may modulate various metabolic processes that confer stress tolerance.