Cytokinin Regulates Type-A Arabidopsis Response Regulator Activity and Protein Stability Via Two-component Phosphorelay

Overview

Journal Plant Cell

Publisher Oxford University Press

Specialties Biology
Cell Biology

Date 2007 Dec 11

PMID 18065689

Citations 111

Authors

Jennifer P C To

Jean Deruere

Bridey B Maxwell

Veronica F Morris

Claire E Hutchison

Fernando J Ferreira

G Eric Schaller

Joseph J Kieber

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The plant hormone cytokinin regulates many aspects of growth and development. Cytokinin signaling involves His kinase receptors that perceive cytokinin and transmit the signal via a multistep phosphorelay similar to bacterial two-component signaling systems. The final targets of this phosphorelay are a set of Arabidopsis thaliana Response Regulator (ARR) proteins containing a receiver domain with a conserved Asp phosphorylation site. One class of these, the type-A ARRs, are negative regulators of cytokinin signaling that are rapidly transcriptionally upregulated in response to cytokinin. In this study, we tested the role of phosphorylation in type-A ARR function. Our results indicate that phosphorylation of the receiver domain is required for type-A ARR function and suggest that negative regulation of cytokinin signaling by the type-A ARRs most likely involves phosphorylation-dependent interactions. Furthermore, we show that a subset of the type-A ARR proteins are stabilized in response to cytokinin in part via phosphorylation. These studies shed light on the mechanism by which type-A ARRs act to negatively regulate cytokinin signaling and reveal a novel mechanism by which cytokinin controls type-A ARR function.

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