■ Abstract Cytokinins are structurally diverse and biologically versatile. The chemistry and physiology of cytokinin have been studied extensively, but the regulation of cytokinin biosynthesis, metabolism, and signal transduction is still largely undefined. Recent advances in cloning metabolic genes and identifying putative receptors portend more rapid progress based on molecular techniques. This review centers on cytokinin metabolism with connecting discussions on biosynthesis and signal transduction. Important findings are summarized with emphasis on metabolic enzymes and genes. Based on the information generated to date, implications and future research directions are presented.

Cytokinin metabolism and action

Glycosyltransferases: managers of small molecules

Substrate specificity of plant UDP-dependent glycosyltransferases predicted from crystal structures and homology modeling.

Conjugates of auxin and cytokinin.

Mutational Analysis of the Medicago Glycosyltransferase UGT71G1 Reveals Residues That Control Regioselectivity for (Iso)flavonoid Glycosylation

The substrate specificity of two recombinant enzymes, zeatin O-glucosyltransferase 1 (ZOG1) and zeatin O-xylosyltransferase 1 (ZOX1), was further characterised. ZOG1 utilises zeatin (Z), UDPG, and UDPX as substrates to form O-glucosylzeatin (OGZ) and O-xylosylzeatin (OXZ) but has higher affinity to UDPG than UDPX. ZOX1 uses only UDPX, converting Z to OXZ. Dihydrozeatin (DHZ) is also a substrate for both enzymes, but only in combination with UDPX, giving rise to O-xylosyldihydrozeatin (OXDHZ). O-Glucosyldihydrozeatin (OGDHZ) is not formed by ZOG1, possibly due to steric hindrance. Regions relevant to UDPG/UDPX affinity and competition were identified using hybrid enzymes derived from domain exchanges of parental genes. The N-terminal half of the enzyme is important in this respect. The BstEII-BstAPI segment of ZOG1 correlates with inhibition of O-xylosyltransferase activity by UDPG while the BstAPI-Eco0109 segment of ZOG1 is required for utilisation of UDPG as the sugar donor.

Karen A. Cloud

Papers

Substrate specificity and domain analyses of zeatin O-glycosyltransferases