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Amino Compound-Containing Lipids: a Novel Class of Signals Regulating Plant Development

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Plant Developmental Biology - Biotechnological Perspectives

Abstract

Plant growth and development are driven by the integration of a vast number of signals including volatile compounds, small organic molecules, peptides, steroids and lipids. Among these, amino-containing signalling lipids such as alkamides and N-acyl ethanolamines (NAEs) have emerged as important regulators of cellular processes, including cell proliferation, growth and differentiation. Manipulation in the concentrations of alkamides and NAEs in plants by pharmacological, mutational and transgenic approaches affect morphogenetic processes including seed germination and post-embryonic shoot and root development. Further evidence for a role of these compounds in regulating physiological processes is supported by their occurrence in a wide range of plant species, their selective accumulation and rapid metabolism in response to developmental transitions, and by the recent identification of the enzymes that metabolize NAEs. Moreover, signal transduction cascades involving abscisic acid, cytokinins and nitric oxide have been found to interact with alkamides and NAEs, highlighting the importance of crosstalk between these novel small lipids and other classic signals for plant growth regulation. The discovery that N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs), a class of bacterial quorum-sensing signals structurally related to alkamides, can be perceived by plants opens the possibility that acylamides could be also involved in plant–bacterial interactions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Investigaciones Químico-Biológicas, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, CP 58030, Morelia, Michoacán, México

    R. Ortiz-Castro, A. Méndez-Bravo & J. López-Bucio

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  1. R. Ortiz-Castro
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  2. A. Méndez-Bravo
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  3. J. López-Bucio
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Correspondence to J. López-Bucio .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. New Era College, Jalan Bukit, Kajang, 43000, Malaysia

    Eng Chong Pua

  2. Dept. Plant Sciences Division, University of Nottingham, Loughborough, LE12 5RD, United Kingdom

    Michael R. Davey

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Ortiz-Castro, R., Méndez-Bravo, A., López-Bucio, J. (2010). Amino Compound-Containing Lipids: a Novel Class of Signals Regulating Plant Development. In: Pua, E., Davey, M. (eds) Plant Developmental Biology - Biotechnological Perspectives. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04670-4_11

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