Role of plant kinases in combined stress

Abstract

Plants in nature are exposed to multiple stresses during their life cycle, affecting growth and productivity. Plants have evolved various molecular mechanisms to cope with stress by altering the protein and enzyme activity involved in cellular processes. Protein phosphorylation, catalyzed by kinase, is one of the critical regulatory mechanisms known to control protein and enzyme activity and its interaction with other proteins involved in the cellular signaling cascade. In eukaryotes, approximately 1–3% of functional genes encode protein kinases, implicating the relevance of kinases in cellular regulation and metabolism. Several past studies have shown the importance of protein phosphorylation by kinases under different stresses like drought, heat, high light, pathogen attack, and nutrient deprivation. However, the role of kinases under combined stresses has been elucidated for only a few. In this chapter, using publically available microarray data under combined stress, we have identified the protein kinases involved in different abiotic and biotic stress combinations. Further, an attempt has also been made to explain the possible function of the identified kinases through literature analysis and also to emphasize the need for functional validation of these kinases under combined stress for a better understanding of the stress tolerance mechanisms.