Volume 23, No 8, Aug 2013
ISSN: 1001-0602
EISSN: 1748-7838 2018
impact factor 17.848*
(Clarivate Analytics, 2019)
Volume 23 Issue 8, August 2013: 1043-1054
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
An ABA-mimicking ligand that reduces water loss and promotes drought resistance in plants
Minjie Cao1,*, Xue Liu1,2,*, Yan Zhang3, Xiaoqian Xue3,4, X Edward Zhou5, Karsten Melcher5, Pan Gao1, Fuxing Wang1, Liang Zeng1, Yang Zhao6, Yang Zhao7, Pan Deng8, Dafang Zhong8, Jian-Kang Zhu1,6, H Eric Xu2,5 and Yong Xu3
1Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology and Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 300 Fenglin Road, Shanghai 200032, China
2VARI-SIMM Center, Center for Structure and Function of Drug Targets, Key Laboratory of Receptor Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China
3Institute of Chemical Biology, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.190 Kaiyuan Avenue, Guangzhou Science Park, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510530, China
4Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, No.103 Wenhua Road, Shenhe District, Shenyang, Liaoning 110016, China
5Laboratory of Structural Sciences, Center for Structural Biology and Drug Discovery, Van Andel Research Institute, 333 Bostwick Ave., N.E., Grand Rapids, MI 49503, USA
6Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47906, USA
7Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 300 Fenglin Road, Shanghai 200032, China
8Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China
Correspondence: Correspondence: Jian-Kang Zhu, E-mail: zhu132@purdue.edu; H Eric Xu, E-mail: Eric.Xu@vai.org; Yong Xu, E-mail: xu_yong@gibh.ac.cn*These two authors contributed equally to this work.
Abscisic acid (ABA) is the most important hormone for plants to resist drought and other abiotic stresses. ABA binds directly to the PYR/PYL family of ABA receptors, resulting in inhibition of type 2C phosphatases (PP2C) and activation of downstream ABA signaling. It is envisioned that intervention of ABA signaling by small molecules could help plants to overcome abiotic stresses such as drought, cold and soil salinity. However, chemical instability and rapid catabolism by plant enzymes limit the practical application of ABA itself. Here we report the identification of a small molecule ABA mimic (AM1) that acts as a potent activator of multiple members of the family of ABA receptors. In Arabidopsis, AM1 activates a gene network that is highly similar to that induced by ABA. Treatments with AM1 inhibit seed germination, prevent leaf water loss, and promote drought resistance. We solved the crystal structure of AM1 in complex with the PYL2 ABA receptor and the HAB1 PP2C, which revealed that AM1 mediates a gate-latch-lock interacting network, a structural feature that is conserved in the ABA-bound receptor/PP2C complex. Together, these results demonstrate that a single small molecule ABA mimic can activate multiple ABA receptors and protect plants from water loss and drought stress. Moreover, the AM1 complex crystal structure provides a structural basis for designing the next generation of ABA-mimicking small molecules.
10.1038/cr.2013.95
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