The past few years have seen the mechanisms used by plants to transmit
extracellular signals into the cytoplasm begin to be uncovered. Multi
ple plant proteins have been identified that resemble the receptor pro
tein kinases of animal cells. These are known as receptor-like protein
kinases or RLKs. Variations in structure and patterns of synthesis of
different RLKs suggest that these proteins are involved in mediating
a variety of cellular signaling processes, can respond to diverse extr
acellular signals and have different physiological functions.