Abstract
The cell cycle responds to various internal or external stimuli and controls organ formation during plant development. We have shown that the tight regulation of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) plays an essential role in differentiation processes. This assumption was supported by the study of transgenic plants in which the Rb-related protein, one of the CDK substrates, was up- or down-regulated. Plant CDKs are classified into two types: CDKA is an ortholog of yeast Cdc2/Cdc28p, while CDKB is a plant-specific CDK that exhibits a G2/M-specific expression during the cell cycle. We have recently shown that Arabidopsis CDKB2 is degraded by a proteasome-dependent pathway and this degradation machinery responds to external signals. In this symposium, we shall report our recent progress in the study of cell cycle machineries and discuss how the cell cycle plays a role in the process of organ formation to accomplish continuous development of plants.
