Molecular and physiological characterization of brassinosteroid receptor BRI1 mutants in Sorghum bicolor.

The high sequence and structural similarities between BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE 1 (BRI1) brassinosteroid (BR) receptors of Arabidopsis (AtBRI1) and sorghum (SbBRI1) prompted us to study the functionally conserved roles of BRI1 in both organisms. Introducing sorghum SbBRI1 in Arabidopsis bri1 mutants restores defective growth and developmental phenotypes to wild-type levels. Sorghum mutants for SbBRI1 show defective BR sensitivity and impaired plant growth and development throughout the entire sorghum life cycle.

Maize mutant screens: from classical methods to new CRISPR-based approaches.

Mutations play a pivotal role in shaping the trajectory and outcomes of a species evolution and domestication. Maize (Zea mays) has been a major staple crop and model for genetic research for more than 100 yr. With the arrival of site-directed mutagenesis and genome editing (GE) driven by the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR), maize mutational research is once again in the spotlight.

A Method for Rapid and Reliable Molecular Detection of Drought-Response Genes in Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench Roots.

Drought is a major environmental stress that limits growth and productivity in agricultural ecosystems limiting crop yield worldwide. Breeding crops for enhanced drought tolerance is a priority to preserve food security on the increasing world population. Recent work in Arabidopsis has shown that vascular brassinosteroid receptor BRL3 (Brassinosteroid insensitive like-3) transcriptionally controls the production of osmoprotectant metabolites that confer drought resistance without penalizing growth, offering new and exciting possibilities for biotechnological improvement of drought-resistant crops.

The BES1/BZR1-family transcription factor MpBES1 regulates cell division and differentiation in Marchantia polymorpha.

Brassinosteroids (BRs) play essential roles in growth and development in seed plants; disturbances in BR homeostasis lead to altered mitotic activity in meristems and organ boundaries and to changes in meristem determinacy. An intricate signaling cascade linking the perception of BRs at the plasma membrane to the regulation of master transcriptional regulators belonging to the BEH, for BES1 homologues, family has been described in great detail in model angiosperms. Homologs of these transcription factors are present in streptophyte algae and in land plant lineages where BR signaling or function is absent or has not yet been characterized.

Drought Resistance by Engineering Plant Tissue-Specific Responses.

Drought is the primary cause of agricultural loss globally, and represents a major threat to food security. Currently, plant biotechnology stands as one of the most promising fields when it comes to developing crops that are able to produce high yields in water-limited conditions. From studies of whole plants, the main response mechanisms to drought stress have been uncovered, and multiple drought resistance genes have already been engineered into crops.

MyROOT: a method and software for the semiautomatic measurement of primary root length in Arabidopsis seedlings.

Root analysis is essential for both academic and agricultural research. Despite the great advances in root phenotyping and imaging, calculating root length is still performed manually and involves considerable amounts of labor and time. To overcome these limitations, we developed MyROOT, a software for the semiautomatic quantification of root growth of seedlings growing directly on agar plates.

Overexpression of the vascular brassinosteroid receptor BRL3 confers drought resistance without penalizing plant growth.

Drought represents a major threat to food security. Mechanistic data describing plant responses to drought have been studied extensively and genes conferring drought resistance have been introduced into crop plants. However, plants with enhanced drought resistance usually display lower growth, highlighting the need for strategies to uncouple drought resistance from growth.

The Primary Root of Sorghum bicolor (L. Moench) as a Model System to Study Brassinosteroid Signaling in Crops.

Roots anchor plants to the soil and are essential for a successful plant growth and adaptation to the environment. Research on the primary root in the plant model system Arabidopsis thaliana has yielded important advances in the molecular and cellular understanding of root growth and development. Several studies have uncovered how the hormones brassinosteroids (BRs) control cell cycle and differentiation programs through different cell-specific signaling pathways that are key for root growth and development.