cROStalk for Life: Uncovering ROS Signaling in Plants and Animal Systems, from Gametogenesis to Early Embryonic Development

Abstract

This review explores the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS)/Ca²⁺ in communication within reproductive structures in plants and animals. Many concepts have been described during the last years regarding how biosynthesis, generation products, antioxidant systems, and signal transduction involve ROS signaling, as well as its possible link with developmental processes and response to biotic and abiotic stresses. In this review, we first addressed classic key concepts in ROS and Ca²⁺ signaling in plants, both at the subcellular, cellular, and organ level. In the plant science field, during the last decades, new techniques have facilitated the in vivo monitoring of ROS signaling cascades. We will describe these powerful techniques in plants and compare them to those existing in animals. Development of new analytical techniques will facilitate the understanding of ROS signaling and their signal transduction pathways in plants and mammals. Many among those signaling pathways already have been studied in animals; therefore, a specific effort should be made to integrate this knowledge into plant biology. We here discuss examples of how changes in the ROS and Ca²⁺ signaling pathways can affect differentiation processes in plants, focusing specifically on reproductive processes where the ROS and Ca²⁺ signaling pathways influence the gametophyte functioning, sexual reproduction, and embryo formation in plants and animals. The study field regarding the role of ROS and Ca²⁺ in signal transduction is evolving continuously, which is why we reviewed the recent literature and propose here the potential targets affecting ROS in reproductive processes. We discuss the opportunities to integrate comparative developmental studies and experimental approaches into studies on the role of ROS/ Ca²⁺ in both plant and animal developmental biology studies, to further elucidate these crucial signaling pathways.

Keywords: calcium signaling; embryo development; gametogenesis; reactive oxygen species; reproductive development in plants and mammals; signal transduction.