title: The brassinosteroid chemical toolbox.
abstract: Chemical biology approaches have been instrumental in understanding the mode of action of brassinosteroids, a group of plant steroid hormones essential for plant development and growth. The small molecules used for such approaches include inhibitors of biosynthetic enzymes and signaling components. Additionally, recent structural data on the brassinosteroid receptor complex together with its ligand brassinolide, the most active brassinosteroid, and knowledge on its different analogs have given us a better view on the recognition of the hormone and signaling initiation. Moreover, a fluorescently labeled brassinosteroid enabled the visualization of the receptor-ligand pair in the cell. Given the insights obtained, small molecules will continue to provide new opportunities for probing brassinosteroid biosynthesis and for unraveling the dynamic and highly interconnected signaling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, 9052 Ghent, Belgium; Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Wim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dejonghe
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, 9052 Ghent, Belgium; Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium; Institute of Plant Physiology and Genetics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Kiril
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mishev
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, 9052 Ghent, Belgium; Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium. Electronic address: jenny.russinova@psb.vib-ugent.be.
authors.forename: Eugenia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Russinova
mesh_terms: D060406:Brassinosteroids / Q000378:metabolism*; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology; D013260:Steroids, Heterocyclic / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D060406:Brassinosteroids; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators; D013260:Steroids, Heterocyclic; C023623:brassinolide