Mutations in LRRK2 underlie an autosomal-dominant, inherited form of Parkinson's disease (PD) that mimics the clinical features of the common "sporadic" form of PD. The LRRK2 protein includes putative GTPase, protein kinase, WD40 repeat, and leucine-rich repeat (LRR) domains of unknown function. Here we show that PD-associated LRRK2 mutations display disinhibited kinase activity and induce a pr...

The molecular mechanisms that regulate cell cycle progression in a developmental context are poorly understood. Here, we show that the leucine-rich repeat protein LRR-1 promotes cell cycle progression during C. elegans development, both in the germ line and in the early embryo. Our results indicate that LRR-1 acts as a nuclear substrate-recognition subunit of a Cullin 2-RING E3 ligase complex (...

Leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases (LRR-RLKs) are widespread in different plant species and play important roles in growth and development. Germination inhibition is vital for the completion of seed maturation and cell expansion is a fundamental cellular process driving plant growth. Here, we report genetic and structural characterizations of a functionally uncharacterized LRR-RLK, named...

Infectious diseases have seriously inhibited the aquaculture of mud crab Scylla paramamosain in southeastern China. Identification of the immune molecules and characterization of the defense mechanisms will be pivotal to the reduction of these diseases. Available data show that leucine-rich repeat (LRR) proteins play a crucial role in protein-protein interactions, recognition processes or immun...

Plant-unique membrane receptor kinases with leucine-rich repeat ectodomains (LRR-RKs) can sense small molecule, peptide, and protein ligands. Many LRR-RKs require SERK-family coreceptor kinases for high-affinity ligand binding and receptor activation. How one coreceptor can contribute to the specific binding of distinct ligands and activation of different LRR-RKs is poorly understood. Here we q...

Nucleotide-binding site and leucine-rich repeat (NBS-LRR) genes represent the largest and most important disease resistance genes in plants. The genome sequence of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) provides valuable data for determining the genomic organization of NBS-LRR genes. However, data on the NBS-LRR genes in the common bean are limited. In total, 178 NBS-LRR-type genes and 145 par...

Ascochyta blight is one of the major diseases of chickpea worldwide. The genetic resistance to ascochyta blight in chickpea is complex and governed by multiple QTLs. However, the molecular mechanism of quantitative disease resistance to ascochyta blight and the genes underlying these QTLs are still unknown. Most often disease resistance is determined by resistance (R) genes. The most predominan...

In plants, cell-surface receptors control immunity and development through the recognition of extracellular ligands. Leucine-rich repeat receptor-like proteins (LRR-RLPs) constitute a large multigene family of cell-surface receptors. Although this family has been intensively studied, a limited number of ligands has been identified so far, mostly because methods used for their identification and...

| 5 Abstract Developing high yielding and high quality varieties with broad-spectrum and durable disease resistance is the ultimate goal of crop breeding. Resistance (R) genes encoding proteins with nucleotide-binding site (NBS) and leucine-rich repeat (LRR) domains provide high levels of resistance, but this type of R genes usually only confers resistance to a subset of pathogen races. In addi...