Connections between the Cell Cycle and the DNA Damage Response in Plants.

Due to their sessile lifestyle, plants are especially exposed to various stresses, including genotoxic stress, which results in altered genome integrity. Upon the detection of DNA damage, distinct cellular responses lead to cell cycle arrest and the induction of DNA repair mechanisms. Interestingly, it has been shown that some cell cycle regulators are not only required for meristem activity and plant development but are also key to cope with the occurrence of DNA lesions.

The F-Box-Like Protein FBL17 Is a Regulator of DNA-Damage Response and Colocalizes with RETINOBLASTOMA RELATED1 at DNA Lesion Sites.

In Arabidopsis (), the F-box protein F-BOX-LIKE17 (FBL17) was previously identified as an important cell-cycle regulatory protein. FBL17 is required for cell division during pollen development and for normal cell-cycle progression and endoreplication during the diploid sporophyte phase. FBL17 was reported to control the stability of the CYCLIN-DEPENDENT KINASE inhibitor KIP-RELATED PROTEIN (KRP), which may underlie the drastic reduction in cell division activity in both shoot and root apical meristems observed in loss-of-function mutants.