Climate change is intensifying environmental stresses, including nutrient depletion, heat extremes, soil contamination, and pathogen pressure, posing a serious threat to global crop productivity and food security. As sessile organisms, plants depend on highly refined signaling networks to perceive environmental fluctuations and reprogram growth and defense in real time. Calcium (Ca²⁺) signaling lies at the core of these adaptive networks, translating environmental cues into precise molecular responses through stimulus-specific calcium signatures.

Our laboratory aims to decode and harness calcium-mediated signaling pathways to enable climate-resilient and sustainable agriculture. We focus on the CBL–CIPK signaling module, a conserved calcium-sensing system that functions as a molecular integrator of environmental stress signals. By identifying stress-specific “kinase–target–phosphatase” modules, we aim to uncover regulatory hubs that control nutrient use efficiency, stress tolerance, and cellular homeostasis under adverse environmental conditions.

Using Arabidopsis thaliana as a discovery platform, we integrate genetics, functional genomics, and phospho-proteomics to map signaling networks that converge at key regulatory nodes during abiotic and biotic stresses, including low potassium availability, high temperature, heavy metal toxicity, and pathogen challenge. We also investigate crosstalk between calcium and reactive oxygen species (ROS) signaling, which together shape plant resilience to oxidative stress—an increasingly common consequence of climate extremes.

A central goal of our research is translation. We validate conserved signaling modules in crop systems, particularly rice (Oryza sativa), to develop climate-smart varieties with improved stress tolerance and nutrient-use efficiency. Through CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing, allele mining, and marker-assisted approaches in elite rice cultivars, we aim to reduce yield losses, enhance resource-use efficiency, and limit the accumulation of toxic metals in edible tissues. By bridging fundamental signaling biology with precision breeding and genome engineering, our work contributes to sustainable crop production systems and long-term food security in a changing climate.
 

1. Mishra S, Bisht D, Amtmann A, Srivastava AK, Pandey GK (2025) Potassium deficiency and hormone signalling in plants. Plant Cell & Environment. DOI:10.1111/pce.70165
2. Bheri M, Kumar A, Pandey GK (2024) TORC: latest addition to the K+ signaling league. Trends in Plant Science 29(9):P952–954. DOI:10.1016/j.tplants.2024.05.002
3. Jamra G, Ghosh S, Singh N, Tripathy MK, Aggarwal A, Singh RDR, Srivastava AK, Kumar A, Pandey GK (2024) Ectopic overexpression of Eleusine coracana CAX3 confers tolerance to metal and ion stress in yeast and Arabidopsis. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 211:108613. DOI:10.1016/j.plaphy.2024.108613
4. Ravi B, Foyer CH, Pandey GK (2023) The integration of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and calcium signalling in abiotic stress responses. Plant, Cell & Environment 46(7):1985–2006. DOI:10.1111/pce.14596
5. Singh N, Ravi B, Saini LK, Pandey GK (2023) Voltage-dependent anion channel 3 (VDAC3) mediates P. syringae induced ABA-SA signaling crosstalk in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 206:108237. DOI:10.1016/j.plaphy.2023.108237
6. Sanyal SK, Sharma K, Bisht D, Sharma S, Sushmita K, Kateriya S, Pandey GK (2023) Role of calcium sensor protein module CBL-CIPK in abiotic stress and light signaling responses in green algae. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 237:124163. DOI:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.124163
7. Kanwar P, Sanyal SK, Mahiwal S, Ravi B, Kaur K, Fernandes JL, Yadav AK, Tokas I, Srivastava AK, Suprasanna P, Pandey GK (2021) CIPK9 targets VDAC3 and modulates oxidative stress responses in Arabidopsis. Plant Journal 109(1):241–260 DOI:10.1111/tpj.15572 
8. Kumar M, Sharma K, Yadav AK, Kanchan K, Baghel M, Kateriya S, Pandey GK (2020) Genome-wide identification and biochemical characterization of Calcineurin B-like calcium sensor proteins in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Biochemical Journal 477(10):1879–1892. 
9. Sanyal SK, Kanwar P, Fernandes JL, Mahiwal S, Yadav AK, Samtani H, Srivastava AK, Suprasanna P, Pandey GK (2020) Arabidopsis mitochondrial voltage-dependent anion channels are involved in maintaining reactive oxygen species homeostasis, oxidative and salt stress tolerance in yeast. Frontier in Plant Sciences 11:50. DOI:10.3389/fpls.2020.00050
10. Yadav AK, Jha SK, Sanyal SK, Luan S, Pandey GK (2018) Arabidopsis Calcineurin B-like proteins differentially regulate phosphorylation activity of CBL-interacting protein kinase 9. Biochemical Journal 475(16): 2621–2636.
11. Singh A, Yadav AK, Kaur K, Sanyal SK, Jha SK, Fernandes JL, Sharma P, Tokas I, Pandey A, Luan S, Pandey GK (2018) Protein Phosphatase 2C, AP2C1 interacts with and negatively regulates the function of CIPK9 under potassium deficient conditions in Arabidopsis. Journal of Experimental Botany 69(16):4003–4015.
12. Shankar A, Fernandes JL, Kaur K, Sharma M, Kundu S, Pandey GK   (2017) Rice Phytoglobin regulate responses under low mineral nutrients and abiotic stresses in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant, Cell & Environment  41(1):215–230.
13. Sanyal SK, Kanwar PK, Samtani S, Kaur K, Jha SK and Pandey GK    (2017) Alternative splicing of CIPK3 results in distinct target selection to propagate ABA signaling in Arabidopsis. Frontier Plant Science 8:1924. 
14. Sanyal SK, Kanwar P, Yadav AK, Sharma C, Kumar A, Pandey GK  (2017) Arabidopsis CBL interacting protein kinase 3 interacts with ABR1, an APETALA2 domain transcription factor, to regulate ABA responses.  Plant Science 254:48–59.
15. Pandey GK, Kanwar P, Singh A, Steinhorst L, Pandey A, Yadav AK, Tokas I, Sanyal S, Kim BG, Lee SC, Cheong YH, Kudla J, Luan S (2015) CBL-interacting protein kinase, CIPK21, regulates osmotic and salt stress responses in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiology 169(1):780–92.
16. Singh A, Kanwar P, Yadav AK, Mishra M, Jha SK, Baranwal V, Pandey A, Kapoor S, Tyagi AK, Pandey GK (2014) Genome-wide expressional and functional analysis of calcium transport elements during abiotic stress and development in rice. FEBS Journal 281(3):894–915.    
17. Kanwar P, Sanyal SK, Tokas I, Yadav AK, Pandey A, Kapoor S, Pandey GK (2014) Comprehensive structural, interaction and expression analysis of CBL and CIPK complement during abiotic stresses and development in rice. Cell Calcium 56: 81–95.
18. Sharma M, Singh A, Shankar A, Pandey A, Baranwal V, Kapoor S, Tyagi AK, Pandey GK (2014) Comprehensive Expression Analysis of Rice Armadillo Gene Family During Abiotic Stress and Development. DNA Research 21:267–283. 
19. Singh A, Giri J, Kapoor S, Tyagi AK, Pandey GK (2010) Protein phosphatase complement in rice: genome-wide identification and transcriptional analysis under abiotic stress conditions and reproductive development. BMC Genomics 11:435. 
20. Pandey, GK, Grant, JG, Cheong YH, Kim BG, Li L, and Luan S (2007) Calcineurin-B-Like Protein CBL9 Interacts with Target Kinase CIPK3 in the Regulation of ABA Response in Seed Germination. Molecular Plant 1:238–248.

1. Methods for enhancing a plant stress response. Pandey GK, Kim KN, Gupta R, and Luan S (United States Patent 7,250,555, granted in 2007)
2. Transgenic plants with enhanced chlorophyll content and salt tolerance. Pandey GK, Reddy VS, Deswal R, Bhattachaya A and Sopory SK (United States Patent 6,791,009, granted in 2004)