A few standing for many: embryo receptor-like kinases
Michael D Nodine1, Anthony C Bryan, Adriana Racolta
1Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
Trends in Plant Science
|February 26, 2011
Summary
Intercellular signaling is crucial for plant embryo development. Many Receptor-Like Kinases (RLKs) and Receptor-Like Cytoplasmic Kinases (RLCKs) likely play vital roles in this process, though most remain uncharacterized.
Area of Science:
- Plant developmental biology
- Molecular signaling pathways
- Genetics and genomics
Background:
- Plant embryo development is a complex process reliant on intercellular communication.
- Receptor-Like Kinases (RLKs) and Receptor-Like Cytoplasmic Kinases (RLCKs) are implicated in Arabidopsis thaliana embryo development.
- Existing research has identified only a subset of RLKs and RLCKs involved in embryogenesis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To highlight the significant, yet largely uncharacterized, roles of RLKs and RLCKs in plant embryo development.
- To emphasize the potential of numerous unstudied RLKs and RLCKs in Arabidopsis thaliana embryogenesis.
- To suggest that current understanding of kinase involvement in embryo development is incomplete.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing experimental evidence on plant embryo development.
- Analysis of gene expression data for RLKs and RLCKs in Arabidopsis embryos.
- Comparative analysis of characterized and uncharacterized kinase families.
Main Results:
- Expression data indicate that numerous RLKs and RLCKs are transcribed during Arabidopsis embryo development.
- Many of these kinases have known post-embryonic functions or their functions remain unknown.
- The characterized RLKs and RLCKs represent a small fraction of the total kinase family involved in embryogenesis.
Conclusions:
- A vast number of RLKs and RLCKs are predicted to play critical roles throughout plant embryo development.
- Further functional characterization of RLKs and RLCKs is essential to fully understand embryogenesis.
- Intercellular signaling mediated by RLKs and RLCKs is a fundamental aspect of plant development.
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