Plants use a gas to dial down their own growth hormones
Rubio-Heras J, Huebra-Montero L, de la Torre A, Sánchez-Vicente I, Zhang C
Plant Signaling
Leggy seedlings stretching toward the light, slow-to-thicken stems, uneven growth after transplanting — all of these are partly governed by this hormone-gas tug-of-war, and understanding it opens a path to growing sturdier, more compact plants without chemicals.
Plants make a tiny gas called nitric oxide that acts like a volume knob on their growth hormones. When there's less of this gas, plants grow faster and react more strongly to brassinosteroids, which are the hormones that drive cell expansion. Scientists found that these two signals talk back and forth: the growth hormones actually cause more of the gas to build up, which then pumps the brakes on further growth.
Key Findings
Seedlings lacking nitric oxide show enhanced growth and hyper-respond to brassinosteroid treatments compared to normal plants.
Plants with activated brassinosteroid signaling accumulate excess nitric oxide, suggesting a negative feedback loop between the hormone and the gas.
Nitric oxide-deficient plants had elevated levels of brassinolide, the most biologically active brassinosteroid, which likely explains their faster growth.
chevron_right Technical Summary
A gas molecule plants produce called nitric oxide acts as a brake on growth by interfering with brassinosteroids, the hormones that tell plants to grow bigger. Plants with too little nitric oxide grow faster and respond more strongly to growth hormones, while plants with too much show developmental problems.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Nitric oxide interacts with brassinosteroid signalling to regulate plant growth and development in an organ-specific manner.
Nitric oxide (NO) is a plant gasotransmitter that regulates plant growth and development by interacting with different regulatory pathways. Among these, brassinosteroids (BRs) have become candidate...
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Plant hormones are signal molecules produced within plants that regulate all aspects of growth, development, and physiological processes at extremely low concentrations. Understanding these hormone systems is critical for plant science because they control pathogen defense, stress tolerance, and
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