Structure and regulatory networks of WD40 protein in plants

Abstract

Plants have been gifted with intricate regulatory networks to carry on with their sessile life form. Often such networks involve delicate association between various proteins. The WD40 proteins, which are present abundantly in several eukaryotes, act as scaffolding molecules assisting proper activity of other proteins. They comprise several stretches of 44–60 amino acid residues and often terminate with a WD dipeptide. They function in several cellular, metabolic and molecular pathways, biologically playing important roles in plant development and also during stress signaling. Moreover, some WD40 (named DWD) proteins also function as substrate receptors in Cullin4 RING dependent E3 ubiquitin ligase mediated proteosomal degradation and DNA damage repair mechanism. In this review, we have discussed the various aspects of these proteins that affect their highly diversified functions in plants.