Back to the future with the AGP-Ca2+ flux capacitor

Background Arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs) are ubiquitous in green plants. AGPs comprise a widely varied group of hydroxyproline (Hyp)-rich cell surface glycoproteins (HRGPs). However, the more narrowly defined classical AGPs massively predominate and cover the plasma membrane. Extensive glycosylation by pendant polysaccharides O-linked to numerous Hyp residues like beads of a necklace creates a unique ionic compartment essential to a wide range of physiological processes including germination, cell extension and fertilization. The vital clue to a precise molecular function remained elusive until the recent isolation of small Hyp-arabinogalactan polysaccharide subunits; their structural elucidation by nuclear magentic resonance imaging, molecular simulations and direct experiment identified a 15-residue consensus subunit as a beta-1,3-linked galactose trisaccharide with two short branched sidechains each with a single glucuronic acid residue that binds Ca2+ when paired with its adjacent sidechain. Scope AGPs bind Ca2+(K-d similar to 6 mu M) at the plasmamembrane (PM) atpH similar to 5.5 but release it when auxin-dependent PMH+-ATPase generates a low periplasmic pH that dissociates AGP-Ca2+ carboxylates (pk(a) similar to 3); the consequential large increase in free Ca2+ drives entry into the cytosol via Ca2+ channels that may be voltage gated. AGPs are thus arguably the primary source of cytosolic oscillatory Ca2+ waves. This differs markedly from animals, in which cytosolic Ca2+ originates mostly from internal stores such as the sarcoplasmic reticulum. In contrast, we propose that external dynamic Ca2+ storage by a periplasmic AGP capacitor co-ordinates plant growth, typically involving exocytosis of AGPs and recycled Ca2+, hence an AGP-Ca2+ oscillator. Conclusions The novel concept of dynamic Ca2+ recycling by an AGP-Ca2+ oscillator solves the long-standing problem of a molecular-level function for classical AGPs and thus integrates three fields: AGPs, Ca2+ signalling and auxin. This accounts for the involvement of AGPs in plant morphogenesis, including tropic and nastic movements.