Glutamate receptor like channels: Emerging players in calcium mediated signaling in plants

Glutamate receptors like channels (GLRs) are ligand gated non-selective cation channels and are multigenic in nature. They are homologs of mammalian ionic glutamate receptors (iGLRs) that play an important role in neurotransmission. It has been more than 25 years of discovery of plant GLRs, since then, significant progress has been made to unravel their structure and function in plants. Recently, the first crystal structure of plant GLR has been resolved that suggests that, though, plant GLRs contain the conserved signature domains of iGLRs, their unique features enable agonist/antagonist-dependent change in their activity. GLRs exhibit diverse subcellular localization and undergo dynamic expression variation in response to developmental and environmental stress conditions in plants. The combined use of genetic, electrophysiology and calcium imaging using different genetically encoded calcium indicators has revealed that GLRs are involved in generating calcium (Ca2+) influx across the plasma membrane and are involved in shaping the Ca2+ signature in response to different developmental and environmental stimuli. These findings indicate that GLRs influence cytosolic Ca2+ dynamics, thus, highlighting "GLR-Ca2+-crosstalk (GCC)" in developmental and stress-responsive signaling pathways. With this background, the present review summarises the recent developments pertaining to GLR function, in the broader context of regulation of stress tolerance in plants.