Characteristics of 14-3-3 Proteins and Their Role in Plant Immunity

Phosphorylation is a major post-translational modification of proteins that regulate diverse signal transduction pathways in eukaryotic cells. 14-3-3 proteins are regulatory proteins that bind to target proteins in a phosphorylation-dependent manner and have been shown to play an important role in plant growth and development, primary metabolism, and signal transduction. Because phosphorylation plays a critical role in signal transduction pathways to trigger plant immunity, involvement of 14-3-3 proteins in plant immunity has been suggested for a long time. Recent studies have provided new evidence to support a role for 14-3-3 proteins in plant immunity. This review will briefly discuss general characteristics of 14-3-3 proteins and their involvement in plant immunity.