Recent advances in the study of Nod factor perception and signal transduction

Rhizobial lipochitooligosaccharidic Nod factors mediate the specific recogn ition between leguminous plants and their prokaryotic symbionts. This revie w summarizes recent findings on the way plants could perceive and transduce these bacterial signals. It starts by summarizing knowledge about Nod fact or binding sites, before moving to the potential implications in Nod factor signal transduction of G proteins, root-hair plasma membrane depolarisatio n, cytoplasmic and extracellular alkalinisation and finally variations in c ytoplasmic calcium concentration. (C) Societe francaise de biochimie et bio logie moleculaire / Elsevier, Paris.