Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41073758›Full record

ArticleNature plants2025

RLCKs phosphorylate RopGEFs to control auxin-dependent Arabidopsis development.

Xiaojing Zhang, Hao Jiang, Guangqi Zhu, Fuhai Chen, Weichao Yuan, Yaqin Li, Wanqing Zhang, Dian Wu, Huili Liu, Hen-Ming Wu and 2 more

Abstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Nature plants, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Plant cell surface receptors.The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology · 2026
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Xiaojing ZhangGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for the Development Biology and Environmental Adaptation of Agricultural Organisms, College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.ORCID 0000-0001-7032-7154
Hao JiangGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for the Development Biology and Environmental Adaptation of Agricultural Organisms, College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.
Guangqi ZhuGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for the Development Biology and Environmental Adaptation of Agricultural Organisms, College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.ORCID 0000-0001-8636-3184
Fuhai ChenGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for the Development Biology and Environmental Adaptation of Agricultural Organisms, College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.ORCID 0009-0005-0060-6496
Weichao YuanGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for the Development Biology and Environmental Adaptation of Agricultural Organisms, College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.ORCID 0009-0008-9275-9909
Yaqin LiGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for the Development Biology and Environmental Adaptation of Agricultural Organisms, College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.
Wanqing ZhangGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for the Development Biology and Environmental Adaptation of Agricultural Organisms, College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.ORCID 0000-0001-5046-360X
Dian WuGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for the Development Biology and Environmental Adaptation of Agricultural Organisms, College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.
Huili LiuGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for the Development Biology and Environmental Adaptation of Agricultural Organisms, College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.ORCID 0000-0002-1914-9484
Hen-Ming WuDepartment of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA.
Alice Y CheungDepartment of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA.
Li-Zhen TaoGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for the Development Biology and Environmental Adaptation of Agricultural Organisms, College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China. lztao2005@scau.edu.cn.ORCID 0000-0003-4640-1793

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China) 32070320National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China) 32370327
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Auxin plays a critical role throughout plant development. We have established earlier that auxin activates the ROP (plant RHO GTPase) molecular switch, and that guanine nucleotide exchange factors ROPGEFs, which activate ROPs, are important regulators for myriad auxin-regulated processes. Here we show that auxin induces phosphorylation of RopGEF1 and that four receptor-like cytoplasmic kinases (RLCKs), named RopGEF1-activating kinases 1/2/3/4 (RAK1/2/3/4), mediate this process. We show that RAKs interact with RopGEFs and specifically phosphorylate S488 on RopGEF1, promoting its stability and recruitment to the cell membrane, and enhance ROP activation. Knockout of these RLCKs blocked auxin-stimulated RopGEF1 phosphorylation, reduced ROP activation and led to defects in PIN-FORMED (PIN)-mediated auxin distribution and multiple developmental processes. Phospho-mimic RopGEF1 (S488D) shows enhanced guanine nucleotide exchange activity in vitro, and its expression in rak quadruple mutants reverses their phenotypes. The RLCK-RopGEF linkage represents an important functional node and elucidates a critical missing link in ROP-meditated auxin signaling.

Indexed as

ArabidopsisArabidopsis ProteinsGuanine Nucleotide Exchange FactorsIndoleacetic AcidsPlant Growth RegulatorsPhosphorylationArabidopsis ProteinsGuanine Nucleotide Exchange FactorsIndoleacetic AcidsPlant Growth Regulators

Identifiers

PMID41073758

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.