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Genetic evidence for an essential role of brassinosteroids in plant development
Author(s) -
Kauschmann Annette,
Jessop Alison,
Koncz Csaba,
Szekeres Miklos,
Willmitzer Lotbar,
Altmann Thomas
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
the plant journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.058
H-Index - 269
eISSN - 1365-313X
pISSN - 0960-7412
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-313x.1996.9050701.x
Subject(s) - brassinosteroid , mutant , biology , arabidopsis , arabidopsis thaliana , microbiology and biotechnology , signal transduction , brassinolide , wild type , function (biology) , biochemistry , gene , botany , plant growth
Summary Brassinosteroids which show high structural similarity to animal steroid hormones elicit a variety of growth responses when exogeneously applied to plant tissues. Thus far however, the function of endogeneous brassinosteroids in higher plants has been unclear. This paper describes three extremely dwarfed Arabidopsis thaliana mutants, cbb1 ( dwf1‐6 ), cbb2 and cbb3 , which are impared in cell elongation controlled by brassinosteroids. While cbb1 ( dwf1‐6 ) and cbb3 can be phenotypically normalized to wild‐type by feeding with brassinosteroids indicating deficiencies of brassinosteroid biosynthesis, cbb2 is brassinosteroid‐insensitive and defines a function required for further metabolic conversion necessary for biological activity or for perception/signal transduction of these growth‐regulating plant steroid hormones. Expression of the meri5 and TCH4 genes is low in all three cbb mutants and can be restored to wild‐type levels by brassinosteroid treatment in the cbb1 ( dwf1‐6 ) and cbb3 mutants but are unaffected in the cbb2 mutant. These data indicate that brassinosteroids are essential for proper plant development and play an important role in the control of cell elongation.