ON THE COVER

Normal anther development is crucial for plant sexual reproduction. Receptor-like protein kinases BARELY ANY MERISTEM1/2 (BAM1/2) and RECEPTOR-LIKE PROTEIN KINASE2 (RPK2) play important roles in regulating early anther development, but the downstream signaling events have remained a mystery for a long time. Cui et al. (pages 2383–2401) show that CLAVATA3 INSENSITIVE RECEPTOR KINASEs (CIKs) function as coreceptors of BAM1/2 and RPK2 both to regulate archesporial cell division and to determine the specification of anther parietal cells. The cover image shows a transverse section of anther from the cik1/2/3/4 quadruple mutant.