Biotic and abiotic stress signaling in plants

Abstract

In the environment, plants are constantly being exposed to a number of adverse conditions. Being immobile and deprived of highly specialized immune system, they have developed intricate mechanisms to adapt and survive under various types of abiotic and biotic stresses. On the perception of certain stimuli various signaling cascades are stimulated generating appropriate responses. This result in massive transcriptional reprogramming that makes the plant tolerant against the stress. Recent advances in the field of genomics and proteomics approach have widened our view regarding plant signal transduction and gene regulation. The cDNA and GeneChip microarrays are tremendously helpful in identifying novel signaling determinants on genome wide scale. Therefore, the role of various genes can be elucidated in response to the stress conditions. Post-translational modifications of the proteins can be well understood by proteomics analyses. Several recent studies using these techniques have added to our understanding of stress signaling mechanisms in plants. In this chapter, we have emphasized on the contribution made by genomics and proteomics approaches to gain further insights in understanding the molecular mechanisms of plants responses against stress.