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Abstract
Salt and drought stress signal transduction consists of ionic and osmotic homeostasis
signaling pathways, detoxification (i.e., damage control and repair) response pathways,
and pathways for growth regulation. The ionic aspect of salt stress is signaled via
the SOS pathway where a calcium-responsive SOS3-SOS2 protein kinase complex controls
the expression and activity of ion transporters such as SOS1. Osmotic stress activates
several protein kinases including mitogen-activated kinases, which may mediate osmotic
homeostasis and/or detoxification responses. A number of phospholipid systems are
activated by osmotic stress, generating a diverse array of messenger molecules, some
of which may function upstream of the osmotic stress-activated protein kinases. Abscisic
acid biosynthesis is regulated by osmotic stress at multiple steps. Both ABA-dependent
and -independent osmotic stress signaling first modify constitutively expressed transcription
factors, leading to the expression of early response transcriptional activators, which
then activate downstream stress tolerance effector genes.