Conscientiousness of mitogen activated protein kinases in acquiring tolerance for abiotic stresses in plants

Abstract

Mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) is a conserved signalling cascade among eukaryotes. It is usually a three component signalling cascade comprising of a MAPK kinase kinase, a MAPK kinase and finally a MAPK connected to each other by an event of phosphorylation. All these three component are multigene family in plants. MAPK gets activated upon phosphorylation and in turn regulates variety of proteins both in cytosol and nucleus. MAPK are basically very sensitive enzyme and gets activated by a myriad of stimuli both biotic and abiotic. Besides sensing the stimuli, MAPKs have their role in development, senescence and other vital processes of a plant life. In the present review the role of MAP kinase in transducing abiotic stress signal have been discussed.