[Biosynthesis of cyclic GMP in plant cells - new insight into guanylate cyclases]

Cyclic 3',5'-guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) is involved in many physiological processes in plants. Concentration of this second messenger in plant cell is determined by guanylyl cyclases (GCs) responsible for cGMP synthesis and phosphodiesterases (PDEs) involved in cGMP inactivation. First discovered plant GCs were localized in cytosol, but few years ago a new family of plasma membrane proteins with guanylyl cyclase activity was identified in Arabidopsis thaliana. These proteins belong to the family of a leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases (LRR-RLK) with extracellular leucine-rich repeat domain, a transmembrane-spanning domain, and an intracellular kinase domain. A novel class of guanylyl cyclases contain the GC catalytic center encapsulated within the intracellular kinase domain. These molecules are different to animal GCs in that the GC catalytic center is nested within the kinase domain. In presented paper we summarized the most recent data concerning plant guanylyl cyclases.