The complexity of regulated development in plants
Friday, March 15, 2013 - 09:01
in Biology & Nature
In most living organisms, growth and development are controlled by selective modification of the lifespans of particular proteins. This mechanism is especially prevalent in plants, allowing rapid moderation of gene expression. Even the relatively streamlined Arabidopsis genome encodes more than 1,400 components of ubiquitin ligase complexes—molecular machines that are each able to single out a specific type of protein for degradation while sparing tens of thousands of others. However, the selectivity with which these hundreds of components assemble to form complexes has yet to be defined.