title: The cysteine pairs in CLV2 are not necessary for sensing the CLV3 peptide in shoot and root meristems.
abstract: Receptor-like proteins (RLPs) are involved in both plant defense and developmental processes. Previous genetic and biochemical studies show that the leucine-rich repeat (LRR) receptor-like protein CLAVATA2 (CLV2) functions together with CLAVATA1 (CLV1) and CORYNE (CRN) in Arabidopsis to limit the stem cell number in shoot apical meristem, while in root it acts with CRN to trigger a premature differentiation of the stem cells after sensing the exogenously applied peptides of CLV3p, CLE19p or CLE40p. It has been proposed that disulfide bonds might be formed through two cysteine pairs in the extracellular LRR domains of CLV1 and CLV2 to stabilize the receptor complex. Here we tested the hypothesis by replacing these cysteines with alanines and showed that depletions of one or both of the cysteine pairs do not hamper the function of CLV2 in SAM maintenance. In vitro peptide assay also showed that removal of the cysteine pairs did not affect the perception of CLV3 peptides in roots. These observations allow us to conclude that the formation of disulfide bonds is not needed for the function of CLV2.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Photosynthesis and Environmental Molecular Physiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiufen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Chun-Ming
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D003545:Cysteine / Q000378:metabolism*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D018519:Meristem / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000166:cytology
chemical_list: C118167:AT2G27250 protein, Arabidopsis; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; C401621:CLV2 protein, Arabidopsis; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D003545:Cysteine