Phytopathology, School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany.
PLoS Biol. 2018 Nov 7;16(11):e3000056. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000056. eCollection 2018 Nov.
Controlling organ growth and development is crucial for all multicellular organisms and is controlled by plasma membrane localized receptor kinases (RKs) across kingdoms, including animals and plants. A central RK in plants is FERONIA (FER), which perceives endogenous rapid alkalinization factor (RALF) peptides to regulate a plethora of biological responses, including growth and development. However, it remained largely unknown how RALF sensing by FER at the plasma membrane is translated into a nuclear response. A key step forward is presented by Li and colleagues, who show that FER increases ERBB3 binding protein 1 (EBP1) mRNA translation and directly phosphorylates EBP1 to shift its subcellular localization from the cytoplasm to the nucleus where it controls growth and development through its regulation of transcription. Importantly, EBP1 is described as a transcriptional and translational regulator in mammals by acting downstream of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling, suggesting that animals and plants use similar conserved pathways to fine-tune growth and development. Furthermore, this work highlights the importance of protein translation as a direct output of RK signaling, a mechanism that is largely unknown in plants.
调控器官的生长和发育对于所有多细胞生物至关重要，这一过程由质膜定位的受体激酶（RKs）来控制，该调控机制在包括动物和植物的多个生物界中均保守存在。在植物中，一个核心的 RK 是 FERONIA（FER），它可以感知内源性快速碱化因子（RALF）肽，从而调控包括生长和发育在内的多种生物学反应。然而，RALF 如何在质膜被 FER 感知并转化为核反应，这在很大程度上仍是未知的。李和他的同事们取得了一个关键的进展，他们表明 FER 可以增加 ERBB3 结合蛋白 1（EBP1）mRNA 的翻译，并直接磷酸化 EBP1，将其从细胞质定位到细胞核，从而通过调节转录来控制生长和发育。重要的是，EBP1 被描述为哺乳动物中表皮生长因子受体（EGFR）信号通路的下游转录和翻译调节剂，这表明动物和植物可能使用类似的保守途径来精细调控生长和发育。此外，这项工作强调了蛋白质翻译作为 RK 信号的直接输出的重要性，这一机制在植物中很大程度上仍是未知的。
