Signal Transduction in Plants

The molecular aspects of recognition and transduction of different kinds of signals is a research area that is spawning increasing interest world-wide. Major advances have been made in animal systems but recently plants too, have become particularly attractive because of their promising role in biotechnology. The type of signals peculiar to the plant world and the similarity of plant transduction pathways investigated thus far to their animal counterparts are prompting more and more studies in this modern area of cell biology. The present book provides a comprehensive survey of all aspects of the recognition and transduction of plant signals of both chemical and physical origin such as hormones, light, toxins and elicitors. The contributing authors are drawn from diverse areas of plant physiology and plant molecular biology and present here different approaches to studying the recognition and transduction of different signals which specifically trigger molecular processes in plants. Recent advances in the field are reviewed, providing the reader with the current state of knowledge as well as insight into research perspectives and future developments. The book should interest a wide audience that includes not only researchers, advanced students, and teachers of plant biology, biochemistry and agriculture, but it has also significant implications for people working in related fields of animal systems.