Thinking outside the F-box: novel ligands for novel receptors

The importance of regulated proteolysis in the physiology and development of plants is highlighted by the large number of genes dedicated to proteasome-dependent protein degradation. Within the SCF class of E3 ubiquitin ligases are more than 700 F-box proteins that act as recognition modules to specifically target their dedicated substrates for ubiquitylation. This review focuses on very recent studies indicating that some F-box proteins function as phytohormone or light receptors, which directly perceive signals and facilitate specific target-protein degradation to regulate downstream pathways. If this new connection between ligand-regulated proteolysis and signaling proves to be more extensive, an entirely new way of understanding the control of signal transduction is in the offing.