The quest for osmosensors in plants

Abstract

Osmotic stress has severe effects on crop productivity. Since climate change is predicted to exacerbate this problem, the development of new crops that are tolerant to osmotic stresses, especially drought and salinity stress, is required. However, only limited success has been achieved to date, primarily because of the lack of a clear understanding of the mechanisms that facilitate osmosensing. Here, we discuss the potential mechanisms of osmosensing in plants. We highlight the roles of proteins such as receptor-like kinases, which sense stress-induced cell wall damage, mechanosensitive calcium channels, which initiate a calcium-induced stress response, and phospholipase C, a membrane-bound enzyme that is integral to osmotic stress perception. We also discuss the roles of aquaporins and membrane-bound histidine kinases, which could potentially detect changes in extracellular osmolarity in plants, as they do in prokaryotes and lower eukaryotes. These putative osmosensors have the potential to serve as master regulators of the osmotic stress response in plants and could prove to be useful targets for the selection of osmotic stress-tolerant crops.

Keywords: Drought; histidine kinase; osmosensing; osmotic stress; salinity; stress perception; transgenic crops.