title: Cell polarity: ROPing the ends together.
abstract: Cell polarity plays an important role in plant development, but the mechanisms that first establish polarity cues remain obscure. By contrast, a flurry of information has recently emerged on the elaboration of cell shape from such unknown initial cell-polarity cues. Recent studies suggest that Rho-related GTPases in plants (ROPs), and their effector targets among the ROP-interactive CRIB motif-containing proteins (RICs), mediate two antagonistic pathways that have opposing action on cell polarization. ROP proteins appear to interact directly with upstream regulators of the ARP2/3 complex, which are conserved modulators of the actin cytoskeleton. ROP function is dependent on the class 1 ADP-ribosylation factors (ARFs), which are core components of the vesicle transport machinery that are also involved in the polar localization of PIN-FORMED (PIN) family auxin efflux facilitators.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584CH Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Scheres
mesh_terms: D020727:ADP-Ribosylation Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D051376:Actin-Related Protein 2-3 Complex / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D016764:Cell Polarity / Q000502:physiology*; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D021381:Protein Transport; D020741:rho GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D051376:Actin-Related Protein 2-3 Complex; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D020727:ADP-Ribosylation Factors; D020741:rho GTP-Binding Proteins