14 DAY TRIAL // A new research carried out by Michigan State University – Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory in collaboration with the University of Washington, discovered a hormone that acts like a molecular glue, that could improve plants' immune system.
The name of this hormone is jasmonate, and it might be the key to understanding the way that plants deal with environmental stress.
The interesting thing about this hormone is that it binds two proteins together, which is a completely new concept in hormone biology and protein chemistry.
Gregg Howe, biochemistry and molecular biology professor, who worked with fellow MSU professor Sheng Yang He on the study said that “in many respects, this receptor is novel in how it binds its target hormone to switch on gene expression.
“Jasmonate appears to act as molecular glue that sticks two proteins together, which sets off a chain of events leading to the immune response.
“Determining the structure of the receptor solves a big missing piece of the puzzle.”
Jasmonate is the last major plant hormone whose signaling pathway was decoded, and earlier research led by the two scientists eased the task.
The functioning of jasmonate is rather simple: when the plant is attacked, the jasmonate signal triggers an interaction between JAZ repressor proteins and the F-box protein COI1, and they work together and eliminate JAZ proteins, allowing the plant to defend itself.
Howe said that when they rebuilt the molecular mechanism of jasmonate perception the researchers found a multicomponent signaling hub.
This means that instead of working as a single protein, this new receptor is actually a co-receptor complex that consists of COI1, JAZ and a newly discovered third component, inositol pentakisphosphate.
Now, researchers can design new hormone derivatives, and they also understand better the way that plants defend themselves from insects and pathogens' attacks.
They can also help agricultural productivity by boosting the plants' resistance to bugs and diseases.
This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the US Department of Energy and it was supported by the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station.
The results appeared in the October 6 issue of Nature.