Dynamics of signalling and response in plants: the power and limitations of quantitative analysis

Abstract Background The study of dynamics in development and response to stimuli has fascinated experimentalist for hundreds of years. Recently, technical advancements have given the opportunity to observe dynamic signals in plants at the molecular level with unprecedent spatio-temporal resolution. Scope In this review, we present a discussion of different analysis methods commonly used in plant science to study dynamic signals, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses, and illustrating what kind of information they reveal and how they can uncover enigmatic signal transmission mechanisms in plant biology. We focus on the dynamic signal calcium, as the diversity of tools available that report on in vivo measurements of calcium allows a thorough discussion of the different approached to signal quantification. Conclusions Methods of analysis of dynamic signals can reveal parameters defined by the molecular machineries that generate and propagate the signal, thus revealing these machineries. This paves the way to understand better the molecular mechanisms behind cellular, intercellular and systemic responses of plants. However, despite technical advances, not all methods of analysis reveal the same type of information. By knowing the strengths and limitations of each analysis method, we can leverage current advances in imaging to uncover key mechanistic information.