title: Mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades in signaling plant growth and development.
abstract: Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades are ubiquitous signaling modules in eukaryotes. Early research of plant MAPKs has been focused on their functions in immunity and stress responses. Recent studies reveal that they also play essential roles in plant growth and development downstream of receptor-like protein kinases (RLKs). With only a limited number of MAPK components, multiple functional pathways initiated from different receptors often share the same MAPK components or even a complete MAPK cascade. In this review, we discuss how MAPK cascades function as molecular switches in response to spatiotemporal-specific ligand-receptor interactions and the availability of downstream substrates. In addition, we discuss other possible mechanisms governing the functional specificity of plant MAPK cascades, a question central to our understanding of MAPK functions.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China; Division of Biochemistry, Interdisciplinary Plant Group, and Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. Electronic address: zhangsh@missouri.edu.
authors.forename: Shuqun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020935:MAP Kinase Signaling System; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases
keywords: cell–cell communication; mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade; plant growth and development; protein phosphorylation; receptor–ligand interaction