Crosstalk between Ca(2+) and Other Regulators Assists Plants in Responding to Abiotic Stress

Plants have evolved many strategies for adaptation to extreme environments. Ca(2+), acting as an important secondary messenger in plant cells, is a signaling molecule involved in plants’ response and adaptation to external stress. In plant cells, almost all kinds of abiotic stresses are able to raise cytosolic Ca(2+) levels, and the spatiotemporal distribution of this molecule in distant cells suggests that Ca(2+) may be a universal signal regulating different kinds of abiotic stress. Ca(2+) is used to sense and transduce various stress signals through its downstream calcium-binding proteins, thereby inducing a series of biochemical reactions to adapt to or resist various stresses. This review summarizes the roles and molecular mechanisms of cytosolic Ca(2+) in response to abiotic stresses such as drought, high salinity, ultraviolet light, heavy metals, waterlogging, extreme temperature and wounding. Furthermore, we focused on the crosstalk between Ca(2+) and other signaling molecules in plants suffering from extreme environmental stress.