Analysis of the H+-ATPase and other proteins of the arabidopsis plasma membrane

This chapter discusses the analysis of the H+-ATPase and other proteins of the Arabidopsis plasma membrane. The plasma membrane serves as a boundary between the plant cell and its environment and is the primary location for proteins involved in transport and signal transduction. Plasma membrane proteins have a wide range of structural and functional characteristics, with no single defining feature other than location. Most of the protein faces the cytoplasm or is embedded in the membrane, with only a minimal extracellular portion. In contrast, the receptor-like protein kinases contain only a single transmembrane domain, but have large cytoplasmic and extracellular domains. Lacking transmembrane domains, they may contain hydrophobic or lipidated regions capable of membrane association or may instead interact with membrane-anchored proteins. Ease of genetic analysis, not biochemical purification, has established Arabidopsis thaliana as an important model system for the study of plant development. Arabidopsis has a short life cycle and one of the smallest genome sizes of any plant, which facilitates the generation and screening of mutant populations, as well as the cloning of genes. © 1995, Academic Press, Inc.