title: What if higher plants lack a CDC25 phosphatase?
abstract: Progression through the cell cycle is regulated by cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs). Plants possess a unique class of CDKs, designated B-type CDKs, but seem to lack a functional CDC25 phosphatase, which is a crucial activator of the onset of mitosis in non-plant species. Based on a striking number of functional parallels between the Arabidopsis thaliana CDKB1;1 and the Drosophila melanogaster CDC25 (string), we hypothesize that the acquisition of B-type CDKs and the disappearance of CDC25 in plants might have been associated; in these coupled events, the CDC25-controlled onset of mitosis might have been evolutionarily replaced by a B-type CDK-dominated pathway, eventually resulting in the loss of the CDC25 gene.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Systems Biology, Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), Ghent University, Technologiepark 927, B-9052 Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Véronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Boudolf
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Inzé
authors.forename: Lieven
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Veylder
mesh_terms: D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000502:physiology; D018844:Cyclin-Dependent Kinases / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D010766:Phosphorylation; D059828:Plant Cells; D063245:Plant Development; D010944:Plants / Q000201:enzymology*; D020687:cdc25 Phosphatases / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D018844:Cyclin-Dependent Kinases; D020687:cdc25 Phosphatases