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Science 19 December 1997:
Vol. 278. no. 5346, pp. 2054 - 2055
DOI: 10.1126/science.278.5346.2054
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Research News

MOLECULAR BIOLOGY:
Plants Decode a Universal Signal

Elizabeth Pennisi

On page 2126, researchers identify a signaling molecule that helps trigger plant stress responses to low temperatures and drought, and in so doing, may have opened a window on how animal cells regulate all sorts of things, from heartbeat to insulin secretion. Plant biologists already knew that the stress responses are turned on when a specific plant hormone triggers a surge in calcium ions inside the cell. They did not know, however, exactly how the hormone does this. But researchers now report that a molecule called cyclic ADP-ribose is what relays the hormone's signal to the stores of calcium in the interior. While researchers had already suspected that this molecule helps to control calcium in animal cells, they call this is the first definitive evidence of a significant role for cyclic ADP-ribose.

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Effect of K-252a and abscisic acid on the efflux of citrate from soybean roots.
H. Shen, A. Ligaba, M. Yamaguchi, H. Osawa, K. Shibata, X. Yan, and H. Matsumoto (2004)
J. Exp. Bot. 55, 663-671
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Hydrogen Peroxide Is Involved in Abscisic Acid-Induced Stomatal Closure in Vicia faba.
X. Zhang, L. Zhang, F. Dong, J. Gao, D. W. Galbraith, and C.-P. Song (2001)
Plant Physiology 126, 1438-1448
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Isovariant Dynamics Expand and Buffer the Responses of Complex Systems: The Diverse Plant Actin Gene Family.
R. B. Meagher, E. C. McKinney, and M. K. Kandasamy (1999)
PLANT CELL 11, 995-1006
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)