Surina Surina, Ayumi Yamagami, Tomoko Miyaji, Zhana Chagan, Kiwi Mi Chung, Nobutaka Mitsuda, Kaisei Nishida, Ryo Tachibana, Zhangliang Zhu, Takuya Miyakawa, Kazuo Shinozaki, Masaaki Sakuta, Tadao Asami, Takeshi Nakano
Drought stress is a major threat leading to global plant and crop losses in the context of the climate change crisis. Brassinosteroids (BRs) are plant steroid hormones, and the BR signaling mechanism in plant development has been well elucidated. Nevertheless, the specific mechanisms of BR signaling in drought stress are still unclear. Here, we identify a novel Arabidopsis gene, BRZ INSENSITIVE LONG HYPOCOTYL 9 (BIL9), which promotes plant growth via BR signaling. Overexpression of BIL9 enhances drought and mannitol stress resistance and increases the expression of drought-responsive genes...
January 18, 2024: Plant & Cell Physiology