Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate regulates plant K(+) channels.

Phosphoinositides play an important role in both abiotic and biotic signalling in plants. The signalling cascade may include the production of second messengers by hydrolysis of PtdIns(4,5)P(2). However, increasingly, PtdIns(4,5)P(2) itself is shown to mediate signalling by regulating target proteins. The present mini-review summarizes the experimentally demonstrated effects of PtdIns(4,5)P(2) on plant K(+) channels and examines their structure for candidate sites of direct PtdIns(4,5)P(2)-protein interaction.