title: CLE peptide ligands and their roles in establishing meristems.
abstract: Research in the past decade revealed that peptide ligands, also called peptide hormones, play a crucial role in intercellular communication and defense response in plants. Recent studies demonstrated that a family of plant-specific genes, CLAVATA3 (CLV3)/ENDOSPERM SURROUNDING REGION (ESR) (CLE), which has at least 31 members in Arabidopsis genome, are able to generate extracellular peptides to regulate cell division and differentiation. A hydroxyl 12-amino acid peptide derived from the conserved CLE motif of CLV3 promotes cell differentiation, whereas another CLE-derived peptide suppresses the differentiation. These peptides probably interact with membrane-bound, leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases (LRR-RLKs) to execute the decision between cell proliferation and differentiation.
authors.affiliation: Plant Research International B.V., B.U. Bioscience, P.O. Box 16, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Martijn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fiers
authors.forename: Ka Lei
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Ku
authors.forename: Chun-Ming
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D008024:Ligands; D018519:Meristem / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism*; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008024:Ligands; D010455:Peptides; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators; D010940:Plant Proteins