The plant cell cycle

Abstract

Knowledge about genes that drive the cell cycle, and about hormones and their receptors that regulate development, is growing at an impressive pace. Such knowledge has accrued both before and during the ‘-omics’ era that has enabled vast amounts of information to be obtained rapidly. Furthermore, the techniques to generate these data are ever improving. However, interfacing such impressive banks of data still remains a challenge if we are to move forward to design the crops of tomorrow. This Special Issue of Annals of Botany collates a series of reviews and papers in which the authors grapple with different aspects of the interfaces between the plant cell cycle, plant hormones and plant development. The papers follow an order based on the key cell cycle transitions, G2/M and G1/S. The Special Issue begins with a brief commentary on the G2/M transition in the plant cell cycle (Francis, 2011), followed by a much more detailed consideration of G2/M control and interfaces with both plant hormones and nutrients (Lipavska et al., 2011). We have taken the conventional view of hormones, although we note that Tony Trewavas states that ‘Sucrose is the only true plant hormone!’ (A. J. Trewavas, University of Edinburgh, pers. comm.). Next up, are two research papers (Yang et al., 2011, and Pignocchi and Doonan, 2011) that investigate cyclins and their interactions with microtubular apparatus, followed by a review of protein interactions with nuclear architecture (Evans et al., 2011). The focus is then on DNA replication with reviews on initiation points of replication in eukaryotes (Bryant and Aves, 2011) and the role of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (Strzalka and Ziemienowicz, 2011). Negative regulation of the cell cycle features in the next paper (Torres Acosta et al., 2011 et al.), followed by endoreduplication with special reference to plant growth regulators that regulate fruit development (Chevallier et al., 2011). A special group of cell cycle-regulated metallopetidases is the topic of the next paper (Peer, 2011), followed by a paper on cell cycle checkpoints in higher plants (Spadafora et al., 2011). A wide ranging review of cell cycle interfaces with hormones and calcium signalling is next (Dudits et al., 2011). Interfaces without form and function are rather like strawberries without cream and the next contributions are two reviews on development. The first discusses the interface of auxins and cytokinins with bud growth and overall shoot development (Műller and Leyser, 2011); the second is a review about root form and function (Rost, 2011). Both reviews are challenging conceptually and both provide many examples of the type of integrative knowledge that will be necessary in future plant cell cycle research. These are followed by a paper that examines the interface between mitotic CDKs, auxins and cytokinins in root apical meristems (Chiappetta et al., 2011), and finally interfaces between cell cycle control and plant hormones are reviewed in the context of endosperm development (Rijavec et al., 2011). All the papers in this Special Issue have been assessed through the Annals of Botany peer-review procedure whereby each paper was assessed by two reviewers via the two editors. Where either of us appears as an author, those manuscripts were handled by the Chief Editor.