Cell wall integrity maintenance in plants: Lessons to be learned from yeast?

The plant cell wall is involved in different biological processes like cell morphogenesis and response to biotic/abiotic stress. Functional integrity of the wall is apparently being maintained during these processes by changing structure/composition and coordinating cell wall with cellular metabolism. In S.cerevisiae a well-characterized mechanism exists that is maintaining functional integrity of yeast the cell wall during similar processes. During the last years it has become obvious that plants have evolved a mechanism to monitor and maintain functional integrity of their cell walls. However, our understanding of the mechanism is rather limited. The available evidence suggests that similar signaling cascades may be involved and particular protein activities may be conserved between plants and yeast. Here we review the available evidence briefly and highlight similarities between yeast and plants that could help us to understand the mode of action of the signaling cascades maintaining plant cell wall integrity.