Huang Li-Fen 2 307-16 The wall-associated kinases (WAK), a family of five proteins that contain extracellular domains that can be linked to pectin molecules of the cell wall, span the plasma membrane and have a cytoplasmic serine/threonine kinase domain. Previous work has shown that a reduction in WAK protein levels leads to a loss of cell expansion, indicating that these receptor-like proteins have a role in cell shape formation. Here it is shown that a single wak2 mutation exhibits a dependence on sugars and salts for seedling growth. This mutation also reduces the expression and activity of vacuolar invertase, often a key factor in turgor and expansion. WAKs may thus provide a molecular mechanism linking cell wall sensing (via pectin attachment) to regulation of solute metabolism, which in turn is known to be involved in turgor maintenance in growing cells. 16623892 Koch Karen Fu Sarita 2006 Apr Byers Nicole Kobayashi Masaru Johansen Sue Dotson Anjali An Arabidopsis cell wall-associated kinase required for invertase activity and cell growth. Kohorn Bruce D et al. 2006 Apr. Plant J. 46(2):307-16. Kohorn Bruce D 46 Riese Jeff