A Peptide Hormone and Its Receptor Protein Kinase Regulate Plant Cell Expansion

By M. Haruta, G. Sabat, Kelly E. Stecker, Benjamin B. Minkoff, M. Sussman. Science, 2014

720 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Plant cells are immobile; thus, plant growth and development depend on cell expansion rather than cell migration. The molecular mechanism by which the plasma membrane initiates changes in the cell expansion rate remains elusive. We found that a secreted peptide, RALF (rapid alkalinization factor), suppresses cell elongation of the primary root by activating the cell surface receptor FERONIA in Arabidopsis thaliana. A direct peptide-receptor interaction is supported by specific binding of RALF to FERONIA and reduced binding and insensitivity to RALF-induced growth inhibition in feronia mutants. Phosphoproteome measurements demonstrate that the RALF-FERONIA interaction causes phosphorylation of plasma membrane H+–adenosine triphosphatase 2 at Ser899, mediating the inhibition of proton transport. The results reveal a molecular mechanism for RALF-induced extracellular alkalinization and a signaling pathway that regulates cell expansion. A signaling system important in the regulation of plant cell size during development is identified. A Peptide Finds Its Receptor Because plant cells cannot move around within the plant, developmental changes are orchestrated by changes in cell size and shape. Using quantitative phosphoproteomics, genetics, and chemical analyses, Haruta et al. (p. 408) identified a signaling chain that links a secreted peptide, RALF (rapid alkalinization factor), with its receptor kinase, FERONIA, at the cell surface. FERONIA is involved in reproductive and vegetative development–processes that require the changes in cell size initiated by RALF signaling.

Subfields: Molecular Biology, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/37c258eeebba968b6973e434050dae2a16bae8af

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In Molecular Biology

1. Jian‐Kang Zhu
2. Lizhong Xiong
3. Yiting Shi
4. Shuhua Yang
5. A. Peaucelle
6. Yan Guo
7. Yongqing Yang
8. Feng Qin

In Plant Science

1. Jian‐Kang Zhu
2. Lizhong Xiong
3. Yan Guo
4. Yongqing Yang
5. Huazhong Shi
6. Dai-Yin Chao
7. Z. Gong
8. Yiting Shi

Citations in the corpus

• REVIEW: PART OF A SPECIAL ISSUE ON PLANT CELL WALLS An update on receptor-like kinase involvement in the maintenance of plant cell wall integrity (2014, background): “The requirement of FER for rapid RALF-induced Ca2+ accumulation suggests that downstream signalling depends on Ca2+, a hypothesis that is further supported by transcriptome analysis (Haruta et al., 2014).”
• Plant abiotic stress response and nutrient use efficiency (2020, background): “A transient increase in cytosolic [Ca2+] was also observed upon ligand activation of the receptor kinase (Haruta et al., 2014).”
• The FERONIA Receptor Kinase Maintains Cell-Wall Integrity during Salt Stress through Ca2+ Signaling (2018, background): “RALF1 does not appear to have important functions in regulating growth under salt stress, as the ralf1 mutant [23] and a RALF1 RNAi transgenic line [24] did not show a significant growth defect (Figure 1D).”