Signaling by Protein Phosphorylation in Cell Division

Abstract

Regulation of cell division in eukaryotes including higher plants is crucial for growth, differentiation, development, and cell death. Protein phosphorylation plays a major role in signaling to control the cell division, and is driven by protein kinases called mitotic kinases, including a cyclin‐dependent kinase (CDK), an Aurora kinase, and a mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK). In contrast to animals and yeast, our knowledge on the regulatory mechanism of the cell division in plants is very limited. Although plant cells seem to share some basic processes during the cell cycle progression with animal and yeast cells, they have acquired unique molecules orchestrating the cell division, reflecting the plant‐specific fashion in cell division such as cytokinesis. This chapter focuses on recent advances in the understanding of signaling molecules, so‐called mitotic kinases (CDKs, Auroras, MAPKs) during mitosis and cytokinesis in plant cells.