The lowdown on breakdown: Open questions in plant proteolysis
Nancy A. Eckardt, Tamar Avin‐Wittenberg, Diane C. Bassham, Po‐Yu Chen, Qian Chen, Jun Fang, Pascal Genschik, Abi S Ghifari, Angelica M. Guercio, Daniel J. Gibbs, Maren Heese, Paul Jarvis, Simon Michaeli, Monika W. Murcha, Sergey Mursalimov, Sandra Noir, Malathy Palayam, Bruno Peixoto, Pedro L. Rodrı́guez, Andreas Schaller, Arp Schnittger, Giovanna Serino, Nitzan Shabek, Annick Stintzi, Frederica L. Theodoulou, Şuayib Üstün, Klaas J. van Wijk, Ning Wei, Qi Xie, Feifei Yu, Hongtao Zhang
Abstract
Proteolysis, including post-translational proteolytic processing as well as protein degradation and amino acid recycling, is an essential component of the growth and development of living organisms. In this article, experts in plant proteolysis pose and discuss compelling open questions in their areas of research. Topics covered include the role of proteolysis in the cell cycle, DNA damage response, mitochondrial function, the generation of N-terminal signals (degrons) that mark many proteins for degradation (N-terminal acetylation, the Arg/N-degron pathway, and the chloroplast N-degron pathway), developmental and metabolic signaling (photomorphogenesis, abscisic acid and strigolactone signaling, sugar metabolism, and postharvest regulation), plant responses to environmental signals (endoplasmic-reticulum-associated degradation, chloroplast-associated degradation, drought tolerance, and the growth-defense trade-off), and the functional diversification of peptidases. We hope these thought-provoking discussions help to stimulate further research.