The 14-3-3 proteins: cellular regulators of plant metabolism

Signal transduction and enzyme regulation are known to occur via phosphorylation, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that phosphorylation might be only a necessary preamble to regulation. In many cases, the phosphorylated target protein must associate with a specialized adapter protein, known as 14-3-3, to complete the regulatory action. There are several prominent examples of 14-3-3 participation in plant regulatory events, including the regulation of plasma membrane H+-ATPase, nitrate reductase and sucrose phosphate synthase, However, emerging data on 14-3-3s in the nucleus might extend the roles for 14-3-3s well beyond the regulation of cytoplasmic enzymes.