First published online February 9, 2007
Development 134, 502e (2007)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
New interactions WAVE plants along
In plants and animals, the shape of many cells is controlled by the
actin-nucleating ARP2-ARP3 complex, which itself is regulated by a multimeric
complex that includes SCAR/WAVE (suppressor of cAMP receptor/Wiskott-Aldrich
syndrome protein-family verproline-homologous protein). Now, on
p. 967, Martin
Hülskamp and colleagues provide new details about cell-shape control in
plants. In Arabidopsis, they report, SCAR proteins seem to be direct effectors
of small Rac-like GTPases called ROPs (Rho proteins of plants); by contrast,
in animal cells, SCAR activity is indirectly regulated by RAC1. The
researchers show that AtSCAR2 (one of five Arabidopsis SCAR homologues)
activates the ARP2-ARP3 complex in vitro and that plants mutant for AtSCAR2
have a similar phenotype to those mutant for ARP2 or ARP3. They then used
yeast two-hybrid analysis and bimolecular fluorescence complementation to
construct a proteininteraction network between the ROPs, the SCAR/WAVE complex
and the ARP2-ARP3 complex. This network confirms many of the protein
interactions previously identified in animals, but, note the researchers, it
also reveals several new interactions.
Related articles in Development:
- The role of Arabidopsis SCAR genes in ARP2-ARP3-dependent cell morphogenesis
- Joachim F. Uhrig, Moola Mutondo, Ilona Zimmermann, Michael J. Deeks, Laura M. Machesky, Philipp Thomas, Silke Uhrig, Claudia Rambke, Patrick J. Hussey, and Martin Hülskamp
Development 2007 134: 967-977.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
