Salt stress and MAPK signaling in plants

Abstract

Plants are subjected to different kinds of stress, which can adversely affect their performance. Under stress, plant's response can determine its survival by altering its morphological and physiological properties. Salt stress negatively affects plant growth and yield production in different parts of the world. Hence, it is important to evaluate plant response under the stress so that the production of more tolerant plants may be possible. Among such responses the activation of different signaling pathways, which can enhance plant ability to tolerate the stress, is the most important one. Under stress, plant genes, which are responsible for plant resistance, are activated resulting in the production of signaling pathways, which can increase plant tolerance to stress. The cross-talk between different signaling pathways during stress can significantly influence plant performance. There are a range of important signaling pathways such as mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), which can trigger plant response to biotic and abiotic stresses. MAPK components are a set of enzymes, causing plant response to the stimuli, for example by activating the antioxidant enzymes, resulted by different stresses. MAPK molecules are found in cytosol and nucleus, interacting with transcription components and phosphatase enzymes, regulate cell polarization, division and morphology by affecting microtubules, plant growth and development, and result in different signaling pathways under stress. In this chapter, some of the important findings regarding the MAPK signaling component under salinity stress are presented. Such details can be used for the production of plants with higher tolerance to such stresses.