Molecular Evolution of Calcium Signaling and Transport in Plant Adaptation to Abiotic Stress

Abstract

Adaptation to unfavorable abiotic stresses is one of the key processes in the evolution of plants. Calcium (Ca2+) signaling is characterized by the spatiotemporal pattern of Ca2+ distribution and the activities of multi-domain proteins in integrating environmental stimuli and cellular responses, which are crucial early events in abiotic stress responses in plants. However, a comprehensive summary and explanation for evolutionary and functional synergies in Ca2+ signaling remains elusive in green plants. We review mechanisms of Ca2+ membrane transporters and intracellular Ca2+ sensors with evolutionary imprinting and structural clues. These may provide molecular and bioinformatics insights for the functional analysis of some non-model species in the evolutionarily important green plant lineages. We summarize the chronological order, spatial location, and characteristics of Ca2+ functional proteins. Furthermore, we highlight the integral functions of calcium-signaling components in various nodes of the Ca2+ signaling pathway through conserved or variant evolutionary processes. These ultimately bridge the Ca2+ cascade reactions into regulatory networks, particularly in the hormonal signaling pathways. In summary, this review provides new perspectives towards a better understanding of the evolution, interaction and integration of Ca2+ signaling components in green plants, which is likely to benefit future research in agriculture, evolutionary biology, ecology and the environment.

Rhodolith Physiology Across the Atlantic: Towards a Better Mechanistic Understanding of Intra- and Interspecific Differences

“…Altogether, our results show a highly diverse and dynamic pattern regarding the expression of calcium transporters (Ca-channel, Ca-ATPase), which seems to be related to the species, but based on the intraspecific comparison of Phymatolithon sp., can also be modulated by the environment (Figure 8). It agrees with the reported high variability in the presence/absence of gene sequences associated to calcium transporters, such as Ca-ATPase and Ca 2+ /H + exchangers in Rhodophyta (Schönknecht, 2013;Tong et al, 2021).…”

The role of CDPKs in plant development, nutrient and stress signaling

“…The overall trend in the evolutionary process of green plants is a significant and sustained increase in the number of EF-hand domains, whereas the number of EFhands was initially very low in early algae, indicating that Ca 2+ sensing appeared to experience differential expansion and functional specialization in CDPKs, CMLs, CaMs, and CBLs. Abiotic stresses and plant morphological complexity may also be linked to changes in the number of Ca 2+ -sensing genes and EFhand motifs (Tong et al, 2021). Considering the evolutionary history of CDPKs it is established that, this multigene family is conserved among angiosperms based on their basal architecture and gene structure which has contributed to expanding their signaling roles.…”

Molecular Regulation and Evolution of Redox Homeostasis in Photosynthetic Machinery

“…Thus, the evolutionary histories of redox homeostasis and photosynthesis can be drawn through comparative genetic analysis, gene expression profiles, phylogenies, conserved domain analysis, and prediction of 3D protein structures. In our previous comparative molecular evolution studies, we have revealed conserved features of over 100 gene families in green algae and land plants [ 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 ]. Here, the functional regulatory networks among distinct species were analyzed through comparative genetic analysis of sequences in redox signaling of photosynthesis from evolutionarily important lineages of plants and algae ( Figure 2 and Figure 3 , Supplementary Figures S2–S5 ).…”