At 10:00 a.m. on March 18, 2026, the 110th edition of the "Chen Bangjie Lecture Series" of the School of Life Sciences at Nanjing Normal University was successfully held in the Multifunction Lecture Hall on the third floor of the Xingzhi Building. Invited by Dr. Kunlun Li from the School of Life Sciences, Professor Sheng Luan from the University of California, Berkeley, delivered an in-depth presentation on the theme "Coding and decoding of calcium signals in plant growth and defense." The lecture was chaired by Professor Bojian Zhong, Dean of the School of Life Sciences, and was enthusiastically attended by faculty and students from across the school.

 

Professor Sheng Luan has long been dedicated to investigating the mechanisms underlying plant calcium signaling systems. His systematic work has made significant contributions to advancing this field. In his presentation, Professor Luan addressed cutting-edge scientific questions concerning the discovery, encoding, and decoding of calcium signals, providing a comprehensive overview of related research progress. He noted that while calcium ions (Ca²⁺) function as second messengers in plant responses to diverse environmental signals, the mechanisms that establish specificity in signal-response coupling remain elusive. Studies over the past four decades in both animal and plant cell models have established the concept of "calcium signatures," which describe stimulus-specific calcium dynamics with distinct spatiotemporal patterns. A central question in the field is how calcium transporters and channels coordinately encode these specific calcium signals, and how calcium sensors and their downstream targets decode them.

Professor Luan further elaborated on key advances made by his laboratory over the past 25 years in understanding both the encoding and decoding mechanisms of calcium signals. Regarding encoding, they have identified several critical calcium channels responsible for generating specific calcium oscillations during pollen tube growth, pollen tube reception, and immune responses, thereby uncovering functional mechanisms of calcium signaling in plant fertilization and immunity. On the decoding side, Professor Luan provided an in-depth account of the calcium signal decoding network composed of CBLs and CIPKs. This network perceives specific changes in calcium concentration and transduces signals to precisely regulate essential physiological processes such as nutrient uptake, ion homeostasis, and immune responses.

Following the presentation, faculty and students engaged in a lively academic exchange with Professor Luan, raising questions on topics including the specific recognition mechanisms of calcium signals. Professor Luan responded thoughtfully and in detail, drawing on his extensive research experience to offer reflections on scientific inquiry and academic development. The event fostered a vibrant intellectual atmosphere and provided attendees with a systematic and forward-looking perspective on calcium signaling research, stimulating deeper consideration of related scientific questions.