Stress signaling III: Reactive oxygen species (ROS)

Abstract

Previously regarded merely as damaging agents, reactive oxygen species (ROS) are now understood as important signal molecules vital to normal plant growth. This tutorial review covers the emerging view of ROS signaling networks from ROS production to specific outputs. The chemical nature of individual reactive oxygen species, their site of the production, control of ROS accumulation via scavenging and detoxification, and the signaling components that interact with ROS are all inputs that are integrated to produce a specific response. ROS perception in plants remains largely undefined. However, a few mechanisms known in plants or suggested in other organisms are discussed. Using genetic and genomic tools, some of the components involved in ROS signal transduction have begun to be delineated. Transcript profiling in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana has revealed that ROS has a large impact on the transcriptome, and that different ROS species can have common, distinct or even negative interference with each other in regulating gene expression. © 2010 Springer Science + Business Media B.V. All Rights Reserved.