The CBL1/9-CIPK1 calcium sensor negatively regulates drought stress by phosphorylating the PYLs ABA receptor

Abstract

The stress hormone, Abscisic acid (ABA), is crucial for plants to respond to changes in their environment. It triggers changes in cytoplasmic Ca2+ levels, which activate plant responses to external stresses. However, how Ca2+ sensing and signaling feeds back into ABA signaling is not well understood. Here we reveal a calcium sensing module that negatively regulates drought stress via modulating ABA receptor PYLs. Mutants cbl1/9 and cipk1 exhibit hypersensitivity to ABA and drought resilience. Furthermore, CIPK1 is shown to interact with and phosphorylate 7 of 14 ABA receptors at the evolutionarily conserved site corresponding to PYL4 Ser129, thereby suppressing their activities and promoting PP2C activities under normal conditions. Under drought stress, ABA impedes PYLs phosphorylation by CIPK1 to respond to ABA signaling and survive in unfavorable environment. These findings provide insights into a previously unknown negative regulatory mechanism of the ABA signaling pathway, which is mediated by CBL1/9-CIPK1-PYLs, resulting in plants that are more sensitive to drought stress. This discovery expands our knowledge about the interplay between Ca2+ signaling and ABA signaling.