Calcium Regulation of Plant Productivity (CROPP)

高效生长发育是植物生产力的重要因素，它取决于许多生物和非生物因素。因此，植物很容易受到各种各样的刺激，这些刺激会触发影响植物发育和代谢内容的遗传条件程序的启动。长期以来，钙一直被认为是植物中最重要的信号成分之一，对环境胁迫反应的激活以及发育过程至关重要。钙缺乏与许多作物病害有关，如苹果病“苦核病”和各种作物的“端腐病”。土壤钙对植物对病原菌的敏感性也有影响。尽管如此，我们对钙信号级联调控植物生长、发育和胁迫反应的一般原理的总体理解仍然不完整。一个离子如何能整合这么多不同的环境信号，并以不同的方式调节许多细胞过程，这是一个谜。了解钙在细胞和有机体水平上的作用是利用内在钙信号程序来提高植物生产力的先决条件。CROPP的科学目标是增加我们对钙介导的植物生长发育过程的一般原理的理解。CROPP将研究钙信号在光暗转换过程中触发发育反应以及对环境应激和激素的反应。此外，我们将分析细胞反应独立于主要刺激使用人工诱导钙升高。由于基于钙的信号传导原理及其组成部分对所有植物都是共同的，并且关键的调节组成部分在系统发育上是保守的，因此将对模型系统获得的知识和结果进行评估，并用于改进作物植物的生物技术相关性状。

Efficient growth and development are essential factors for plant productivity and they depend on a number of biotic and abiotic factors. Thus, plants are susceptible to a great variety of stimuli that trigger the onset of genetically conditioned programs influencing plant development and metabolic content. Calcium has long been acknowledged as one of the most important signalling components in plants and is crucial for the activation of environmental stress responses as well as for developmental processes. Calcium deficiency has been associated with many crop diseases, such as the apple disease "Bitter pit" and the "End-rot" in various crops. Soil calcium also has influence on the susceptibility of plants to pathogens. Nevertheless, our overall understanding of the general principles guiding the calcium signalling cascades in regulating plant growth, development and stress response remains fragmented. It is an enigma, how a single ion can integrate so many distinct environmental signals and regulate many cellular processes in a differential fashion. Understanding the role of calcium on a cellular as well as organismic level is a pre-requisite to exploit the intrinsic calcium signalling program to improve plant productivity.The scientific aim of CROPP is to increase our understanding of general principles in calciummediated processes that govern plant growth and development. CROPP will address the role of calcium signalling during light-dark transition triggering developmental responses and in response to environmental stress and hormones. In addition, we will analyse the cellular responses independent from the primary stimulus using artificially induced calcium elevations. Because the principle of calcium-based signalling and its components are common to all plants and key regulatory components are phylogenetically conserved, knowledge and results obtained with model systems will be assessed and utilised for improvement of biotechnological relevant traits in crop plants.