Prof. Lijia Qu published a paper on Molecular Plant Journal.
In Arabidopsis, the CLAVATA3/ENDOSPERM SURROUNDING REGION (CLE) peptides play important roles in regulating proliferation and differentiation of plant-specific stem cells. Although receptors of CLEs are reported to be leucine-rich repeat receptor kinases, the mechanisms underlying CLE-induced receptor activation remain largely unknown. Here we show that SOMATIC EMBRYOGENESIS RECEPTOR KINASE (SERKs) serve as co-receptors in the CLE41/TDIF-PXY signaling to regulate plant vascular
development. TDIF induces interaction of its receptor PXY with SERKs in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, the serk1-1 serk2-1 bak1-5 mutant plants are less sensitive to TDIF, phenocopying the pxy mutant with a compromised promotion of procambial cell proliferation. Crystal structure of the PXY-TDIF-SERK2 complex reveals that the last amino acid of TDIF conserved among CLEs and
other evolutionary-related peptides is important for the interaction between SERK2 and PXY. Taken together, our current study identifies SERKs as signaling components of TDIF-PXY pathway and suggests a conserved activation mechanism of CLE receptors.
Original link: http://www.cell.com/molecular-plant/fulltext/S1674-2052(16)30136-8
