The role of receptor-like protein kinases (RLKs) in abiotic stress response in plants

Abstract

We review and introduce recent studies on RLK s involved in the abiotic stress response and provide insights into potential regulatory mechanisms for alleviating abiotic stress. Abiotic stresses are important factors affecting plant growth and development, resulting in crop production reduction and even plant death. To survive, plants utilize different mechanisms to respond and adapt to continuously changing environmental factors. Understanding of the molecular mechanisms of plant response to various stresses will aid in improving tolerance of plants to abiotic stress through genetic engineering, which would greatly promote the development of modern agriculture. RLKs, the largest gene family in plants, play critical roles in the regulation of plant developmental processes, signaling networks and disease resistance. Many RLKs have been shown to be involved in abiotic stress responses, including the abscisic acid response, calcium signaling and antioxidant defense. This review summarizes recent studies on RLKs involved in plant responses to abiotic stress, including drought, salt, cold, toxic metals/metalloids and other stresses, and emphasizes the upstream and downstream factors in RLK signal transduction pathways under abiotic stress.

Global Gene Expression Analysis Reveals Crosstalk between Response Mechanisms to Cold and Drought Stresses in Cassava Seedlings

“…The majority of these DEGs were up-regulated by both cold and drought stresses, suggesting they may play positive roles in stress tolerance. RLKs are a family of transmembrane receptors with an intracellular serine/threonine kinase domain and perform critical functions in modulating diverse biological processes by perceiving extracellular stimuli and activating downstream signaling responses (Ye et al, 2016). In both the cold and drought stress responses, ten Leucine-Rich Repeat Receptor-Like protein Kinases ( LRR-RLKs ), seven Malectin or Malectin-like domain-containing Receptor-Like Kinases ( MRLKs ) and four Legume lectin Receptor-Like Kinases ( LecRLKs ) were identified.…”

“…As expected, protein kinases and TFs corresponded to the most regulated genes, suggesting that cold and drought stress signal transduction pathways overlap at several points. The important Receptor-like Kinases (RLK) group which includes members like LRR-RLK , MRLK , and LecRLK , have been previously shown to be involved in mediating the cellular response to various environmental cues, hormonal signals and stress perception (Ye et al, 2016). Many studies have focused on the characterization and function of RLKs in abiotic stress tolerance, specifically for drought, cold and salinity.…”

“…Many studies have focused on the characterization and function of RLKs in abiotic stress tolerance, specifically for drought, cold and salinity. In rice, LRR-RLK gene FON1 increased drought tolerance of transgenic rice plants through phosphorylating key components of the ABA signaling pathway and activating the ABA signal (Feng et al, 2014; Ye et al, 2016). Another well studied example is CRLK1 , a calcium-regulated RLK , which modulated cold tolerance through phosphorylating MAP kinases in plants, and promoted expression of cold stress response genes, finally regulating plant adaptation to cold stress (Furuya et al, 2013; Ye et al, 2016).…”

Molecular dialogues between viruses and receptor‐like kinases in plants

“…Receptor kinases are proteins localized at the cell surface, formed by an extracellular domain (ECD), a transmembrane domain (TMD), and an intracellular kinase domain (KD). In plants, these proteins are usually known as receptor‐like kinases (RLKs) and play an essential role in a multitude of cellular processes, from developmental control to the response to environmental stimuli (Breiden and Simon, ; Ye et al , ; He et al , ). In comparison with other organisms, plants have evolved a notably large family of RLKs, including more than 600 members in Arabidopsis and more than 1000 members in rice (Gish and Clark, ).…”

“…The ECDs of plant RLKs are considerably diverse, and may include extensin‐like, lectin‐like, epidermal‐growth‐factor‐like (including cysteine‐rich), lysine motif, and leucine‐rich repeat (LRR) domains, among others (Gish and Clark, ). RLK ECDs may homo‐ or hetero‐multimerize in order to perceive endogenous or exogenous ligands, including peptides, steroids, oligosaccharides, polysaccharides, and lipopolisaccharides, and transduce these signals to the cell interior (Breiden and Simon, ; Ye et al , ; He et al , ; Smakowska‐Luzan et al , ), which often results in the initiation of specific intracellular signalling events.…”