Receptor-Like Kinases:Key Regulators of Plant Development and Defense

Plants are multi-cellular organisms that live in diverse and fuctuating environments.Cell-cell and cell-environment communication are therefore critical to plant growth and development.In animals,transmembrane receptor protein tyrosine kinases play signifcant roles in cell-cell signaling.There was a great deal of surprise in the plant community,however,when the frst receptor-like protein kinase(RLK)was isolated from maize by John C.Walker and Ren Zhang(1990)over twenty years ago,because plant cells contain cell walls which were thought to be