Receptor kinase signalling in plants

Abstract

Recent plant genome analyses have revealed a large family of plant receptor kinases with very divergent extracellular domains. While a large proportion of this family remains uncharacterized, emerging functions for several plant receptor kinases reveal roles in a variety of biological processes including growth, development, hormone perception, and plant–microbe interactions. Significant progress has also been made in the understanding of four plant receptor kinase systems including their respective ligands and signalling pathways. Interestingly, a wide range of signalling proteins have been identified as functioning with these receptor kinases. In this review, an overview of plant receptor kinases, their biological functions, and their signalling pathways is presented.Key words: plants, Arabidopsis, receptor kinase, signal transduction.