Recent advances in plant MAP kinase signalling

Mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPK) are important mediators in signal transmission, connecting the perception of external stimuli to cellular responses. MAPK cascades are involved in signalling various biotic and abiotic stresses, like wounding and pathogen infection, temperature stress or drought, but are also involved in mediating the action of some plant hormones, such as ethylene and auxin. Moreover, MAPKs have been implicated in cell cycle and developmental processes. In Arabidopsis mutant screens and in vivo assays several components of plant MAPK cascades have been identified. This review gives an update of recent advances in plant MAPK signalling and discusses the emerging mechanisms of some selected MAPK pathways.     

Plant MAP kinase pathways: how many and what for?

Mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPK) are important mediators in signal transmission, connecting the perception of external stimuli to cellular responses. MAPK cascades are involved in signalling various biotic and abiotic stresses, like wounding and pathogen infection, temperature stress or drought, but also some plant hormones, such as ethylene and auxin. Moreover, MAPKs have been implicated in cell cycle and developmental processes. In Arabidopsis mutant screens and in vivo assays several components of plant MAPK cascades have been identified. This review compares results obtained from functional analyses of MAPK cascades in plants with recent data obtained from searching the complete Arabidopsis genome. This analysis reveals that plants have an overall of 24 MAPK pathways of which only a small subset has been studied so far.     

环境胁迫下植物MAPK多叠级联响应

植物MAP(mitogen-activated protein)激酶涉及植物的生长发育、对内源和外界环境刺激的反应.MAP激酶能将胞外感受器引起的刺激传递到胞内引起细胞的反应.拟南芥(Arabidopsis thaliana)作为模式植物,其全部的MAP激酶已经列出并进行了分类.根据已分类的拟南芥MAP激酶家族,已经分离出大量的MAP激酶基因,并将它们进行分类,发现它们大多能被包括病原、创伤、温度、干旱、盐、渗透、紫外线辐射、臭氧和活性氧等胁迫刺激激活.通过研究在不同环境胁迫下的功能和信号路径,发现植物MAP激酶信号传递系统是复杂且相互交错的.需要开发一些新的工具和策略去阐明MAPK信号传递路径,以及如何利用MAPK系统去改善农作物对生物和非生物胁迫的抗性.     

Rice MAPKs

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades are evolutionary conserved from unicellular to complex eukaryotic organisms, and constitute one of the major signalling pathways involved in regulating a wide range of cellular activities from growth and development to cell death. MAPKs of rice (Oryza sativa L.), the most important of all food crops and an established monocot plant research model, have seen considerable progress mainly on their identification and characterization during the past one year alone. These studies have provided new information on the response and regulation of rice MAPKs, in particular on their possible role/function in the rice self-defense pathways. It is believed that further work on MAPK cascades in rice will widen our understanding of the MAPK signalling pathways, and may lead to the establishment of a biological model on this critical early signalling event in monocots. In this review, we bring together all the recent developments in rice MAPKs and discuss their significance and future direction in light of the present data and the progress made in dicot model plants.     

The role of MAPK signalling pathways in the response to endoplasmic reticulum stress

Perturbations in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) homeostasis, including depletion of Ca^2 + or altered redox status, induce ER stress due to protein accumulation, misfolding and oxidation. This activates the unfolded protein response (UPR) to re-establish the balance between ER protein folding capacity and protein load, resulting in cell survival or, following chronic ER stress, promotes cell death. The mechanisms for the transition between adaptation to ER stress and ER stress-induced cell death are still being understood. However, the identification of numerous points of cross-talk between the UPR and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling pathways may contribute to our understanding of the consequences of ER stress. Indeed, the MAPK signalling network is known to regulate cell cycle progression and cell survival or death responses following a variety of stresses. In this article, we review UPR signalling and the activation of MAPK signalling pathways in response to ER stress. In addition, we highlight components of the UPR that are modulated in response to MAPK signalling and the consequences of this cross-talk. We also describe several diseases, including cancer, type II diabetes and retinal degeneration, where activation of the UPR and MAPK signalling contribute to disease progression and highlight potential avenues for therapeutic intervention. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Calcium Signaling In Health and Disease. Guest Editors: Geert Bultynck, Jacques Haiech, Claus W. Heizmann, Joachim Krebs, and Marc Moreau.     

Role of ��-tocopherol in cellular signaling: ��-tocopherol inhibits stress-induced mitogen-activated protein kinase activation

Tocopherols belong to the plant-derived poly phenolic compounds known for antioxidant functions in plants and animals. Activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) is a common reaction of plant cells in defense-related signal transduction pathways. We report a novel non-antioxidant function of α-tocopherol in higher plants linking the physiological role of tocopherol with stress signalling pathways. Pre-incubation of a low concentration of 50 μM α-tocopherol negatively interferes with MAPK activation in elicitor-treated tobacco BY2 suspension culture cells and wounded tobacco leaves, whereas pre-incubated BY2 cells with α-tocopherol phosphate did not show the inhibitory effect on stimuli-induced MAPK activation. The decreased MAPK activity was neither due to a direct inhibitory effect of α-tocopherol nor due to the induction of an inhibitory or inactivating activity directly affecting MAPK activity. The data support that the target of α-tocopherol negatively regulates an upstream component of the signaling pathways that leads to stress dependent MAPK activation.     

Stressing the role of MAP kinases in mitogenic stimulation

In yeast and animal cells, distinct subfamilies of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) have evolved for transmitting different types of signals, such as the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) for mitogenic stimuli and differentiation, p38 and JUN kinase (JNK) for stress factors. Based on sequence analysis, the presently known plant MAPKs are most similar to ERKs, even though compelling evidence implies a role in various forms of biotic and abiotic stress responses. However, knowledge of their involvement in controlling proliferation is just emerging. A subgroup of the plant MAPKs, containing the alfalfa MMK3 and tobacco NTF6, are only active in mitotic cells and their localisation to the cell plate suggests a role in cytokinesis. An upstream regulator of MAPKs, the tobacco NPK1, appears to be also activated during mitosis. NPK1 might be associated and regulated by a microtubule motor protein. The localisation of NPK1 to the cell plate and its mitosis-specific activation suggest that together with NTF6 it could constitute a mitotic MAPK signalling module in tobacco. NPK1 appears to have a second role in repression of auxin-induced gene expression. MAPKs might also be involved in signalling within the meristems as suggested by the recruitement of a small G-protein to the CLAVATA 1 receptor-like protein kinase upon activation. In animal and yeast cells some of the small G-proteins relay signals from receptors to MAPK pathways.     

Osmotic stress activates distinct lipid and MAPK signalling pathways in plants.

Plants are continuously exposed to all kinds of water stress such as drought and salinity. In order to survive and adapt, they have developed survival strategies that have been well studied, but little is known about the early mechanisms by which the osmotic stress is perceived and transduced into these responses. During the last few years, however, a variety of reports suggest that specific lipid and MAPK pathways are involved. This review briefly summarises them and presents a model showing that osmotic stress is transmitted by multiple signalling pathways.     

Function of the Yersinia effector YopJ

The Yersinia virulence factor YopJ inhibits the host immune response and induces apoptosis by blocking multiple signaling pathways, including the MAPK and NFkappaB pathways in the infected cell. YopJ is a cysteine protease that cleaves a reversible post-translational modification in the form of ubiquitin or a ubiquitin-like protein. Homologues of YopJ are expressed in animal and plant pathogens, as well as a plant symbiont, suggesting a universal mechanism of regulating or modulating a variety of signaling pathways. The ability of YopJ to block the innate immune response, its activity as a ubiquitin-like protein protease and its activity with respect to mammalian signalling pathways are discussed in this review.