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Review
. 2023 Feb 18;24(4):4117.
doi: 10.3390/ijms24044117.

MAPKKKs in Plants: Multidimensional Regulators of Plant Growth and Stress Responses

Chen Xie  1 , Liu Yang  1 , Yingping Gai  1
Affiliations
Review

MAPKKKs in Plants: Multidimensional Regulators of Plant Growth and Stress Responses

Chen Xie et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase (MAPKKK, MAP3K) is located upstream of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade pathway and is responsible for receiving and transmitting external signals to the downstream MAPKKs. Although a large number of MAP3K genes play important roles in plant growth and development, and response to abiotic and biotic stresses, only a few members' functions and cascade signaling pathways have been clarified, and the downstream MAPKKs and MAPKs of most MAP3Ks are still unknown. As more and more signaling pathways are discovered, the function and regulatory mechanism of MAP3K genes will become clearer. In this paper, the MAP3K genes in plants were classified and the members and basic characteristics of each subfamily of MAP3K were briefly described. Moreover, the roles of plant MAP3Ks in regulating plant growth and development and stress (abiotic and biotic) responses are described in detail. In addition, the roles of MAP3Ks involved in plant hormones signal transduction pathway were briefly introduced, and the future research focus was prospected.

Keywords: MAPKKK; abiotic stress; biotic stress; plant growth.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mechanism of plant MAP3K regulating growth and development. The blue, green, and red ovals represent MAP3K, MAPKK, and MAPK respectively. White ovals represent proteins that do not belong to the MAPK cascade pathway. The red small circle with “P” represents phosphorylation and blue double-headed arrow represents interactions between proteins.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mechanism of plant MAP3K regulating abiotic stress resistance. The blue, green, and red ovals represent MAP3K, MAPKK, and MAPK respectively. White ovals represent proteins that do not belong to the MAPK cascade pathway. The red small circle with “P” represents phosphorylation and the small yellow circle with “Ub” represents ubiquitination.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mechanism of plant MAP3K regulating biotic stress resistance. The blue, green, and red ovals represent MAP3K, MAPKK, and MAPK respectively. White ovals represent proteins that do not belong to the MAPK cascade pathway. The red small circle with “P” represents phosphorylation.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The working model of plant MAP3Ks. Plants form a dynamic balance between plant growth and stress tolerance through a series of MAPK cascade pathways composed of multiple MAP3Ks.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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