Using protein–metabolite interactions to identify novel plant metabolite receptors

An increasing interest in plant protein–metabolite interactions has occurred in the past decade due to advancements in technology and methodology. Metabolite receptors especially are of great importance in plant research due to their role in cell signaling for the regulation of growth and development and environmental sensing. Energy, carbon, and nitrogen signaling through AMPK/SNF1/SnRK1, TOR, and PII receptors are core components conserved across Kingdoms of Life and what is known in plants often came first from study in non-plant systems. In contrast, known phytohormone receptors are relatively distinct to plants and identified within a plant system. Therefore, this review will give an update on known plant receptors for energy, carbon, and nitrogen signaling as well as phytohormones, focusing on the detection methods used to provide our current understanding of their function in the plant. Finally, it will address emerging strategies for identifying protein–metabolite interactions to discover novel plant receptors.