African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 5 (19), pp. 1687-1692, 2 October 2006   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2006 Academic Journals        

Review

Emerging roles in plant biotechnology for the second messenger cGMP - guanosine 3’, 5’-cyclic monophosphate

Stuart Meier and Chris Gehring*

Department of Biotechnology, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville, 7535, South Africa.

*Corresponding authors E-mail: cgehring@uwc.ac.za.  Tel: + 27 21 959 2199. Fax: + 27 21 959 1349.

Accepted 26 September, 2006

Second messengers are small transient molecules that transmit and/or modulate environmental or hormonal signals linking them to complex and often systemic physiological responses. Recent reports have renewed interest in the second messenger guanosine 3’, 5’-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) since it has been shown to directly mediate an ever increasing number of plant responses ranging from the modification of cyclic nucleotide gated ion channels to the regulation of transcription of many cGMP responsive genes. Here some of these cGMP dependent responses will be reviewed emphasising their role in plant stress responses. Finally, potential applications of cGMP in plant biotechnology will be discussed.

Key words: Second messenger, 3’, 5’-cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP), cyclic nucleotide gated ion channels, stress responses, Arabidopsis thaliana.