A team headed by Prof. Jörg Kudla at Münster University has discovered that salt stress triggers calcium signals in a special group of cells in plant roots, which form a “sodium-sensing niche”. Also, the researchers identified a calcium sensor switch mechanism as for tolerance to elevated salt stress in which a particular calcium-binding protein (CBL8) specifically conveys salt tolerance under severe salt stress conditions. The results of the study have now been published in the journal “Developmental Cell”.