Signaling: Brassinosteroid Signaling

Introduction

Plants respond to internal developmental cues as well as external environmental factors by activating signal transduction pathways that regulate growth and development, metabolism, and homeostasis. Protein receptors perceive specific ligands resulting in a cascade of biochemical events that often culminates with changes in gene expression. The newly synthesized gene products then act to alter cell size, number, shape, and function, which ultimately can lead to organ initiation, patterning, and morphogenesis. Thus, specific ligand/receptor interactions, often at the cell surface, regulate physiological processes and developmental programs through signaling pathways that alter nuclear gene expression. Intermediate components of the signaling pathway are required to relay information from signal perception to changes in gene expression. One of the most common signaling mechanisms in both plants and animals is reversible phosphorylation of Ser, Thr, and/or Tyr residues in...