Receptor-like protein kinases, BAK1 and BKK1, regulate a light-dependent cell-death control pathway

BAK1 and BKK1 are two functionally redundant leucine-rich repeat receptor-like protein kinases (LRR-RLKs) involved in brassinosteroid signal transduction by their direct interactions with the BR receptor, BRI1. Recent studies from our group and others indicated that the two RLKs also play critical roles in regulating pathogen-related and pathogen-unrelated cell-death controls. Genetic data suggest that the two kinases are essential for plant survival because the double mutants show spontaneous cell-death and seedling lethality phenotypes. Physiological analyses further suggest that the cell-death of the double mutant is triggered by the light, as dark-grown seedlings do not show any cell-death symptoms. These observations indicate that BAK1 and BKK1 regulate a novel signaling pathway to detoxify or to limit the production of a yet unknown toxin/toxins produced by plants under light conditions.