Mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades in signaling plant growth and development.

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Abstract

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades are ubiquitous signaling modules in eukaryotes. Early research of plant MAPKs has been focused on their functions in immunity and stress responses. Recent studies reveal that they also play essential roles in plant growth and development downstream of receptor-like protein kinases (RLKs). With only a limited number of MAPK components, multiple functional pathways initiated from different receptors often share the same MAPK components or even a complete MAPK cascade. In this review, we discuss how MAPK cascades function as molecular switches in response to spatiotemporal-specific ligand-receptor interactions and the availability of downstream substrates. In addition, we discuss other possible mechanisms governing the functional specificity of plant MAPK cascades, a question central to our understanding of MAPK functions.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Trends Plant Sci.

Title: Trends in plant science

ISSN (Electronic): 1878-4372

ISSN (Print): 1360-1385

Publication date (Electronic): Jan 2015

Volume: 20

Issue: 1

Affiliations

[1 ] State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China.

[2 ] State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China; Division of Biochemistry, Interdisciplinary Plant Group, and Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. Electronic address: zhangsh@missouri.edu.