Jun J H, Fiume E, Fletcher J C
Plant Gene Expression Center, USDA/UC Berkeley, 800 Buchanan Street, Albany, California 94710, USA.
Cell Mol Life Sci. 2008 Mar;65(5):743-55. doi: 10.1007/s00018-007-7411-5.
Polypeptide ligands have long been recognized as primary signaling molecules in diverse physiological processes in animal systems. Recent studies in plants have provided major breakthroughs with the discovery that small polypeptides are also involved in many plant biological processes, indicating that the use of polypeptides as signaling molecules in cell-to-cell communication is evolutionarily conserved. The CLAVATA3 (CLV3)/ENDOSPERM SURROUNDING REGION (ESR)-related (CLE) proteins are currently the best understood family of small polypeptides in plants. The recent isolation of MCLV3 from Arabidopsis and TDIF from a Zinnia cell culture system indicates that biologically active CLE polypeptides are produced by post-translational proteolysis and modification, similar to peptide hormone production in animals and yeast. Here, we review exciting discoveries involving the identification of the CLE proteins and their functions in various aspects of plant development, including restriction of stem cell accumulation by CLV3 and inhibition of xylem differentiation by TDIF.
长期以来，多肽配体一直被认为是动物系统中多种生理过程的主要信号分子。最近在植物中的研究取得了重大突破，发现小多肽也参与许多植物生物学过程，这表明多肽作为细胞间通讯的信号分子在进化上是保守的。CLAVATA3（CLV3）/胚乳周围区域（ESR）相关（CLE）蛋白是目前植物中研究最透彻的小多肽家族。最近从拟南芥中分离出MCLV3以及从百日草细胞培养系统中分离出TDIF，表明具有生物活性的CLE多肽是通过翻译后蛋白水解和修饰产生的，这与动物和酵母中肽激素的产生类似。在这里，我们回顾了一些令人兴奋的发现，包括CLE蛋白的鉴定及其在植物发育各个方面的功能，包括CLV3对干细胞积累的限制以及TDIF对木质部分化的抑制。
