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10:12
Measuring Spatial and Temporal Ca2+ Signals in Arabidopsis Plants
Published on: September 2, 2014
Ca2+ signalling in plants and green algae--changing channels.
Glen L Wheeler1, Colin Brownlee
1Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL1 3DH, UK. glw@pml.ac.uk
Trends in Plant Science
|August 16, 2008
Summary
Ancestral eukaryotes possessed key calcium (Ca2+) channels found in animals but lost in land plants. These channels are now identified in green algae, suggesting a loss after plant-algae divergence.
Area of Science:
- Cellular Biology
- Molecular Biology
- Plant Science
Background:
- Eukaryotic cells utilize cytosolic Ca2+ signals generated by Ca2+-conducting channels.
- Significant divergence exists in Ca2+ channel complements between plants and animals.
- Key animal Ca2+ channels (e.g., voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels, transient receptor potential channels, inositol trisphosphate receptors) are absent in land plants.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the presence of animal-like Ca2+ channels in the green plant lineage.
- To understand the evolutionary history of Ca2+ signaling mechanisms in eukaryotes.
- To determine if these channels were lost or gained during land plant evolution.
Main Methods:
- Biochemical studies
- Genomic analyses
- Comparative analysis of Ca2+ channel complements across eukaryotic lineages
Main Results:
- Representatives of animal-associated Ca2+ channel classes were identified in chlorophyte algae.
- Evidence suggests these channels were present in ancestral eukaryotes.
- Land plants appear to have lost these specific Ca2+ signaling mechanisms.
Conclusions:
- Ca2+-signaling mechanisms present in animals and chlorophyte algae were likely present in ancestral eukaryotes.
- Land plants lost these channels after diverging from the chlorophyte lineage.
- This loss highlights significant evolutionary adaptations in plant Ca2+ signaling.
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