Plant A-type cyclins

Although the basic mechanisms which control the progression through the cell cycle appear to be conserved in all higher eukaryotes, the unique features of the plant developmental programme must be somehow reflected in a plant-specific regulation of the factors which control cell division. In the past few years, considerable progress has been achieved in identifying the major components of the cell cycle machinery in plants, especially the cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) and their regulatory subunits, the cyclins. The question of how these components direct expression of specific genes at specific stages of the cell cycle, and how they are themselves regulated, constitutes a challenge for the present and for the years to come. This review summarizes our current knowledge of a particular class of plant cyclins, the A-type cyclins, which can be further subdivided into three structural groups. The putative functions of these A-type cyclins are discussed in relation to the presence of remarkable motifs in their amino acid sequences, and to their specific transcriptional regulation, protein amount and subcellular localization.