Brz220 a novel brassinosteroid biosynthesis inhibitor: stereochemical structure–activity relationship

Allelochemicals: A source for developing economically and environmentally friendly plant growth regulators

Allelochemicals are specific secondary metabolites that can exhibit autotoxicity by inhibiting the growth of the same plant species that produced them. These metabolites have been found to affect various physical processes during plant growth and development, including inhibition of seed germination, photosynthesis, respiration, root growth, and nutrient uptake, with diverse mechanisms involving cell destruction, oxidative homeostasis and photoinhibition. In some cases, allelochemicals can also have positive effects on plant growth and development. In addition to their ecological significance, allelochemicals also possess potential as plant growth regulators (PGRs) due to their extensive physiological effects. However, a comprehensive summary of the development and applications of allelochemicals as PGRs is currently lacking. In this review, we present an overview of the sources and categories of allelochemicals, discuss their effects and the underlying mechanisms on plant growth and development. We showcase numerous instances of key phytohormonal allelochemicals and non-phytohormonal allelochemicals, highlighting their potential as candidates for the development of PGRs. This review aims to provide a theoretical basis for the development of economical, safe and effective PGRs utilizing allelochemicals, and emphasizes the need for further research in this area.

Light Activates Brassinosteroid Biosynthesis to Promote Hook Opening and Petiole Development in Arabidopsis thaliana

Although brassinosteroids (BRs) have been proposed to be negative regulators of photomorphogenesis, their physiological role therein has remained elusive. We studied light-induced photomorphogenic development in the presence of the BR biosynthesis inhibitor, brassinazole (Brz). Hook opening was inhibited in the presence of Brz; this inhibition was reversed in the presence of brassinolide (BL). Hook opening was accompanied by cell expansion on the inner (concave) side of the hook. This cell expansion was inhibited in the presence of Brz but was restored upon the addition of BL. We then evaluated light-induced organ-specific expression of three BR biosynthesis genes, DWF4, BR6ox1 and BR6ox2, and a BR-responsive gene, SAUR-AC1, during the photomorphogenesis of Arabidopsis. Expression of these genes was induced, particularly in the hook region, in response to illumination. The induction peaked after 3 h of light exposure and preceded hook opening. Phytochrome-deficient mutants, hy1, hy2 and phyAphyB, and a light-signaling mutant, hy5, were defective in light-induced expression of BR6ox1, BR6ox2 and SAUR-AC1. Light induced both expression of BR6ox genes and petiole development. Petiole development was inhibited in the presence of Brz. Our results largely contradict the early view that BRs are negative regulators of photomorphogenesis. Our data collectively suggest that light activates the expression of BR biosynthesis genes in the hook region via a phytochrome-signaling pathway and HY5 and that BR biosynthesis is essential for hook opening and petiole development during photomorphogenesis.

Inhibitors of Brassinosteroid Biosynthesis and Signal Transduction

Chemical inhibitors are invaluable tools for investigating protein function in reverse genetic approaches. Their application bears many advantages over mutant generation and characterization. Inhibitors can overcome functional redundancy, their application is not limited to species for which tools of molecular genetics are available and they can be applied to specific tissues or developmental stages, making them highly convenient for addressing biological questions. The use of inhibitors has helped to elucidate hormone biosynthesis and signaling pathways and here we review compounds that were developed for the plant hormones brassinosteroids (BRs). BRs are steroids that have strong growth-promoting capacities, are crucial for all stages of plant development and participate in adaptive growth processes and stress response reactions. In the last two decades, impressive progress has been made in BR inhibitor development and application, which has been instrumental for studying BR modes of activity and identifying and characterizing key players. Both, inhibitors that target biosynthesis, such as brassinazole, and inhibitors that target signaling, such as bikinin, exist and in a comprehensive overview we summarize knowledge and methodology that enabled their design and key findings of their use. In addition, the potential of BR inhibitors for commercial application in plant production is discussed.

Phenotyping of abiotic responses and hormone treatments in Arabidopsis

The disruption or modulation of signal transduction pathways does not always lead to drastic changes in plant growth and development. Therefore, many loss- or gain-of-function lines do not exhibit an obvious phenotype under normal greenhouse conditions. To be able to assign biological functions to these genes, the mutants need to be evaluated with a broad spectrum of assays to uncover conditional phenotypes.Here we provide an overview on how to evaluate plants in their development and their response to abiotic factors such as light, hormones, and different stressors. The assessment of the behavior of a plant under these conditions can be used to correlate a biological role with a genotype. This phenotypic analysis can be used for profiling of mutants.

What Can Be Done with the Acetyl Group of Aryl-1-Ethanones?

Literature data on utilization of acetyl group of aryl-1-ethanones (acetophenones) for the synthesis of organic compounds is generalized. Different approaches of preparation of aromatic compounds by chemical transformations of methyl as well as keto- group of titled compounds are systematized. Examples of the synthesis of organic compounds based on products of primary transformations of aryl-1-ethanones are considered.

Brassinosteroids regulate dissociation of BKI1, a negative regulator of BRI1 signaling, from the plasma membrane

Brassinosteroids, the steroid hormones of plants, are perceived at the plasma membrane by a leucine-rich repeat receptor serine/threonine kinase called BRI1. We report a BRI1-interacting protein, BKI1, which is a negative regulator of brassinosteroid signaling. Brassinosteroids cause the rapid dissociation of BKI1-yellow fluorescent protein from the plasma membrane in a process that is dependent on BRI1-kinase. BKI1 is a substrate of BRI1 kinase and limits the interaction of BRI1 with its proposed coreceptor, BAK1, suggesting that BKI1 prevents the activation of BRI1.

Arabidopsis Aux/IAA genes are involved in brassinosteroid-mediated growth responses in a manner dependent on organ type

We examined whether auxin/indole-3-acetic acid (Aux/IAA) proteins, which are key players in auxin-signal transduction, are involved in brassinosteroid (BR) responses. iaa7/axr2-1 and iaa17/axr3-3 mutants showed aberrant BR sensitivity and aberrant BR-induced gene expression in an organ-dependent manner. Two auxin inhibitors were tested in terms of BR responses. Yokonolide B inhibited BR responses, whereas p-chlorophenoxyisobutyric acid did not inhibit BR responses. DNA microarray analysis revealed that 108 genes were up-regulated, while only eight genes were down-regulated in iaa7. Among the genes that were up- or down-regulated in axr2, 22% were brassinolide-inducible genes, 20% were auxin-inducible genes, and the majority were sensitive neither to BR nor to auxin. An inhibitor of BR biosynthesis, brassinazole, inhibited auxin induction of the DR5-GUS gene, which consists of a synthetic auxin-response element, a minimum promoter, and a beta-glucuronidase. These results suggest that Aux/IAA proteins function in auxin- and BR-signaling pathways, and that IAA proteins function as the signaling components modulating BR sensitivity in a manner dependent on organ type.

Autoregulation and homodimerization are involved in the activation of the plant steroid receptor BRI1

The leucine-rich-repeat receptor serine/threonine kinase, BRI1, is a cell-surface receptor for brassinosteroids (BRs), the steroid hormones of plants, yet its activation mechanism is unknown. Here, we report a unique autoregulatory mechanism of BRI1 activation. Removal of BRI1's C terminus leads to a hypersensitive receptor, indicated by suppression of dwarfism of BR-deficient and BR-perception mutants and by enhanced BR signaling as a result of elevated phosphorylation of BRI1. Several sites in the C-terminal region can be phosphorylated in vitro, and transgenic Arabidopsis expressing BRI1 mutated at these sites demonstrates an essential role of phosphorylation in BRI1 activation. BRI1 is a ligand-independent homo-oligomer, as evidenced by the transphosphorylation of BRI1 kinase in vitro, the dominant-negative effect of a kinase-inactive BRI1 in transgenic Arabidopsis, and coimmunoprecipitation experiments. Our results support a BRI1-activation model that involves inhibition of kinase activity by its C-terminal domain, which is relieved upon ligand binding to the extracellular domain.

The leaf morphologies of the subtropical rheophyte Solenogyne mikadoi and its temperate relative S. bellioides (Asteraceae) are affected differently by plant hormones and their biosynthesis inhibitors

Solenogyne mikadoi is a subtropical rheophyte endemic to the Ryukyu Archipelago that develops rosette leaves 2-3 cm in diameter. In contrast, the other three species of this genus all occur in temperate grasslands of Australia and develop rosette leaves about 10 cm in diameter. To examine the involvement of the plant hormones gibberellin and brassinosteroid in the adaptive dwarfism of S. mikadoi, we compared the effects of GA(3) and brassinolide, and their biosynthesis inhibitors on the morphology of the first leaves of S. mikadoi and its temperate relative S. bellioides. In S. mikadoi, one-directional (lengthwise) leaf elongation was strongly facilitated by the application of GA(3) and suppressed by a gibberellin-biosynthetic inhibitor, uniconazole-P, while leaf width (transverse) expansion was insensitive to and was never facilitated by any of the compounds used. Conversely, in S. bellioides, brassinolide facilitated both the elongation and expansion of leaves, while a brassinosteroid-specific biosynthesis inhibitor, brassinazole220, suppressed both. One-directional leaf elongation caused by the reduced sensitivity to brassinolide in S. mikadoi and brassinolide-dependent two-dimensional leaf expansion in S. bellioides both appear to be adaptations to their respective habitats: S. mikadoi has narrow leaves resistant to flowing water, whereas S. bellioides has broad leaves capable of harnessing sufficient light and water in temperate grasslands.

Plant Brassinosteroid Hormones

In animals, a large number of steroid hormones play important roles in numerous processes including reproduction and differentiation. The biologically active plant steroid brassinolide (BL) was first discovered in the pollen of western rape in 1979 (Grove et al., 1979). This finding suggested that BL is indispensable for plant growth and differentiation. To date, more than 50 BL analogs have been identified, and the group has been termed brassinosteroids (BRs) (Fujioka and Yokota, 2003). Brassinosteroids have several biological activities, such as inducing cell elongation when applied at very low concentrations. For this reason, soon after their discovery, they were suggested to be a sixth type of plant hormone; however, for years BRs were not considered true plant hormones. The turning point in BR research was the discovery of the Arabidopsis dwarf mutants det2 and cpd in 1996 (Li et al., 1996; Szekeres et al., 1996). These BR-deficient mutants were found to revert to the wild-type phenotype following BR treatment. Concurrent with the analysis of these mutants, an outline of the biosynthetic pathway of BRs was being elucidated through chemical analysis. Following the isolation of det2 and cpd, a great number of BR-deficient mutants were identified. The mutant genes were found to encode proteins that catalyze the conversion of plant steroids to BR precursors. Eventually, BRs were widely recognized as important plant hormones indispensable for growth and differentiation (Clouse and Sasse, 1998). In parallel, mutants that are insensitive to BRs were isolated (Clouse et al., 1996; Li et al., 1997) with phenotypes very similar to those of the BR-biosynthesis mutants. Investigations of these mutants revealed several mechanisms of BR perception and signal transduction (Bishop and Koncz, 2002; Clouse, 2002). This review describes findings on the effects of BRs on plant growth, BR biosynthesis and catabolism, and BR signal transduction.

A mammalian steroid action inhibitor spironolactone retards plant growth by inhibition of brassinosteroid action and induces light-induced gene expression in the dark

We screened steroid derivatives and found that spironolactone, an inhibitor of both 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17beta-HSD) and aldosterone receptor, is an inhibitor of phytohormone brassinosteroid (BR) action in plants. Under both dark and light growing conditions, spironolactone induced morphological changes in Arabidopsis, characteristic of brassinosteroid-deficient mutants. Spironolactone-treated plants were also nearly restored to the wild-type phenotype by treatment with additional BRs. In the spironolactone-treated Arabidopsis, the CPD gene in the BR biosynthesis pathway was up-regulated, probably due to feedback regulation caused by BR-deficiency. Spironolactone-treated tobacco plants grown in the dark showed expression of light-regulated genes as was observed in the deficient mutant. These data suggest that spironolactone inhibits brassinosteroid action probably due to the blockage of biosynthesis and exerts its activity against plants. Thus, spironolactone, in conjunction with brassinosteroid-deficient mutants, can be used to clarify the function of BRs in plants and characterize mutants. The spironolactone action site was also investigated by feeding BR biosynthesis intermediates to Arabidopsis grown in the dark, and the results are discussed.

Gibberellins repress photomorphogenesis in darkness

Plants undergo two different developmental programs depending on whether they are growing in darkness (skotomorphogenesis) or in the presence of light (photomorphogenesis). It has been proposed that the latter is the default pathway followed by many plants after germination and before the seedling emerges from soil. The transition between the two pathways is tightly regulated. The conserved COP1-based complex is central in the light-dependent repression of photomorphogenesis in darkness. Besides this control, hormones such as brassinosteroids (BRs), cytokinins, auxins, or ethylene also have been shown to regulate, to different extents, this developmental switch. In the present work, we show that the hormone gibberellin (GA) widely participates in this regulation. Studies from Arabidopsis show that both chemical and genetic reductions of endogenous GA levels partially derepress photomorphogenesis in darkness. This is based both on morphological phenotypes, such as hypocotyl elongation and hook and cotyledon opening, and on molecular phenotypes, such as misregulation of the light-controlled genes CAB2 and RbcS. Genetic studies indicate that the GA signaling elements GAI and RGA participate in these responses. Our results also suggest that GA regulation of this response partially depends on BRs. This regulation seems to be conserved across species because lowering endogenous GA levels in pea (Pisum sativum) induces full de-etiolation in darkness, which is not reverted by BR application. Our results, therefore, attribute an important role for GAs in the establishment of etiolated growth and in repression of photomorphogenesis.