Nitric oxide and calcium signalling in plants under salinity stress and their crosstalk - A Review

Abstract

Salinity is considered as one of the major factor affecting the crop production throughout the world. The oxidative stress induced by salinity can retard plant growth and yield as major part of energy is wasted on conserving water and improving ionic balance. The free radicals produced during stress are considered to be a major factor for most of the damages as these free radicals attack vital biomolecules such as lipids, protein and carbohydrates which are the basic requirements of almost all physiological and developmental processes. Understanding the mechanism of stress tolerance along with the involvement of important signalling molecules in stress signalling network is essential for crop improvement. Likewise, the two signalling molecules nitric oxide and calcium ion have been reported to be actively involved in upregulation of various stress response mechanism thus indicating the existence of a possible cross talk among these molecules and other associated pathways. In this review, emphasis was given on the impact of salinity and oxidative stress mediated damages on plant system. Additionally, the role of nitric oxide and calcium ion as signalling molecules in response to stress signals and their implication in mitigation of salinity stress has also been discussed.