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PLANT BIOLOGY

Cytokinin receptor turns 20

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 22, page 443 (2021)Cite this article

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The discovery of cytokinins can be traced back to the early 1950s, when seminal experiments by Skoog and Miller created the framework for in vitro plant cell culture studies. These plant hormones (or ‘phytohormones’) were subsequently found to be involved in many plant developmental processes, including the formation of different types of organs, and in plant responses to a wide range of environmental stresses (for example, pathogen attacks and drought). Given these crucial functions that cytokinins perform, identifying the cytokinin receptor in plants became a common goal for numerous research teams worldwide from the 1980s.

In 2001, Kakimoto and colleagues reported the unequivocal demonstration that the protein CRE1 (cytokinin response 1) functions as a cytokinin receptor in Arabidopsis thaliana. More specifically, CRE1 was found to encode a histidine kinase, a type of environmental sensor originally described in bacteria. The ‘tour de force’ that led to these discoveries is worthy of inclusion in any biology course. The team succeeded in functionally substituting Sln1 in yeast, which encodes an essential histidine kinase that functions as a transmembrane osmosensor, with CRE1. The mere presence of the plant CRE1 was not sufficient for cell survival. Cell growth required the addition of cytokinin to the medium, indicating that CRE1 senses and is activated by cytokinins. Beyond demonstrating that CRE1 is a cytokinin receptor, the authors created for the first time a synthetic yeast, the survival of which was dependent on plant hormones. Although this study was reported only a year after the development of the Gardner, Cantor and Collins toggle switch, plant biologists may not have appreciated that this artificial yeast would become a textbook example of synthetic biology.

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References

Original article

  • Inoue, T. et al. Identification of CRE1 as a cytokinin receptor from Arabidopsis. Nature 459, 1060–1062 (2001)

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  1. Univ Angers, Univ Brest, GEIHP, Angers, France

    Nicolas Papon

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  1. Nicolas Papon
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Correspondence to Nicolas Papon.

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Papon, N. Cytokinin receptor turns 20. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 22, 443 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-021-00365-7

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