Arabidopsis SUMO E3 ligase AtMMS21 regulates root meristem development.

The small ubiquitin modifier (SUMO) conjugation/deconjugation is an important regulatory progress in plant development and responses to abiotic stresses. However, much less is known about the roles of sumoylation in plant root development. Cytokinin and auxin play crucial roles in determining the balance between cell proliferation and cell differentiation in Arabidopsis roots. The SUMO E3 ligase AtMMS21 is a homologue of human NSE2/MMS21, which modulates DNA damage and DNA repair in human cells. This addendum summarizes our recent paper on the AtMMS21 mediating cytokinin signaling to regulate the root meristem cell proliferation. The mms21-1 roots had reduced responses to exogenous cytokinins and decreased expression of the cytokinin-induced genes ARR3, ARR4, ARR5 and ARR7, compared with the wild type. Furthermore, the expression of CRE1 and ARR1, which are both the receptor and positive regulator of cytokinin signaling, was also reduced in the mms21-1 mutant plants.