A Meta-Analysis of Transcriptomic Footprints Disclose Specificity of Research Paper

A Meta-Analysis of Transcriptomic Footprints Disclose Specificity of Reactive Oxygen Species Signaling in Arabidopsis Study - Research Paper Example These species also have a signaling role and are very important in carrying out this signaling function, which is evident during various developmental processes such as allelopathic plant-plant interactions, cell elongation, and division, programmed cell death. It may also be noted during environmental processes as well as biotic and abiotic stress responses. Since a major part of metabolic activities are highly oxidizing, or have very intensive rates of electron flow; as a result, they tend to produce high levels of ROS. The signaling role is important because it produces the control and regulation of various biological processes and the ROS appear to have a dual role for these ROS in plant biology; both as the toxic by-products of aerobic metabolism as well as regulators of the various cell-based processes associated with growth, development as well as patterns of defense. Hence, at the outset, the significance of this study lies in the fact that the importance of reactive oxygen species has been identified, i.e., as a toxic byproduct of the biological processes which tends to function as a signal to regulate the various cell processes. Moreover, another aspect that could also be deduced in relation to this study and the findings of other researchers was outlined in the study that the ROS activity can lead to the oxidative destruction of cells. This is important because it shows that in so far as the evolution of aerobic organisms is concerned, the development of efficient ROS scavenging mechanisms is likely to be a causal factor in such evolution. The oxidative destruction of cells is caused by the partially reduced or activated derivatives of oxygen such as hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radical. The genome-wide microarrays provide the means to access the changes in transcripts arising out of an alternation in specific types of ROS. For example, whe n light stress occurs, there is an expression of heat shock proteins, which can be controlled by systolic H2O2.