Calcium signal transduction in Arabidopsis

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Plants must continually monitor their environment and respond to changes with appropriate cellular and physiological adaptations. Whether responding to growth cues such as temperature and light, or adverse environmental stressors such as pathogen attack, drought, or salinity, plants initiate specific, adaptive cellular events which include changes in gene expression, enzyme activity, and metabolic adjustments. These phenomena are regulated through intricate information-processing systems, termed signal transduction, that orchestrate the cell's machinery into providing a coordinated response that is appropriately timed and specific for a given environmental cue. Plants use calcium ions as key regulators of cell processes during responses to virtually all types of intrinsic and environmental signals. My research program is aimed at understanding the unique ways in which plants cells use calcium ions and, in particular, calcium-binding proteins, to regulate stress response and developmental pathways in plants. My lab uses a variety of molecular, genetic, physiological, and biochemical tools in our research program. This work will advance our knowledge of plant cell biology and stress physiology. This research is important to the academic, biotechnology, and agricultural communities as we aim to understand how plants interact with their environments. My research program provides high-level training for the next generation of scientists and contributes to the knowledge-base that is the foundation for future applications aimed at engineering enhanced performance and stress tolerance in Canadian crops.