title: CNGCs: prime targets of plant cyclic nucleotide signalling?
abstract: Cyclic nucleotide-gated channels (CNGCs) are a recently identified family of plant ion channels. They show a high degree of similarity to Shaker-type voltage-gated channels and contain a C-terminal cyclic nucleotide-binding domain with an overlapping calmodulin-binding domain. Heterologously expressed plant CNGCs show activation by cyclic nucleotides and permeability to monovalent and divalent cations. In plants, downstream effectors of cyclic nucleotide signals have so far remained obscure, and CNGCs might be their prime targets. The unique position of CNGCs as ligand-gated Ca(2+)-permeable channels suggests that they function at key sites where cyclic nucleotide and Ca(2+) signalling pathways interact. Such processes include plant defence responses, and two recently characterized Arabidopsis mutants in CNGC genes indeed show altered pathogen responses.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Golm, Germany.
authors.forename: Ina N
authors.initials: IN
authors.lastname: Talke
authors.forename: Damien
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Blaudez
authors.forename: Frans J M
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Maathuis
authors.forename: Dale
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sanders
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009712:Nucleotides, Cyclic / Q000378:metabolism*; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D007473:Ion Channels; D009712:Nucleotides, Cyclic; D002118:Calcium