PROTEOMICS SHOWED HOW BRASSINOSTEROIDS WORK
15/05/09
Steroids work in a very complicated way in plants. Plant biologists realized that these
steroids target the genes to
enhance growth and development in plant cells via molecular signals. These signals were studied by
proteomics which is an emerging field and proteins are mapped. The
steroids in plants are known as
brassinosteroids and its deficiency causes stunted
growth and infertility. These
steroids functions at cellular level i.e. targets to the cell membrane and the cell receptor to its action in the nucleus, where genes are the targets of regulation. This was used, since cell membrane is basically made up of proteins and thus could be easily studied by separating it from the cell.
From
Eureka Science:
Plant
steroids, called
brassinosteroids, are key
hormones throughout the plant kingdom. They regulate many aspects of growth and development, and mutants deficient in
brassinosteroids are often extremely stunted and infertile.
Wang’s findings have not only helped establish the connections of the
steroid signaling pathway, but possibly offers a paradigm for both
kinase signaling in plants and for
steroid signaling by cell-surface receptors in general.
More importantly, the success of the
proteomic methods demonstrated by
Wang’s study will have a major impact on studies of other signal transduction pathways.
The studies showed the link of
hormones with the class of proteins called
kinases, which are linked to the phosphate ions, to
brassinosteroids. Such signal transduction pathways were established to show the connection between the
proteins and
steroids. such were known to be
brassinosteroids signaling kinases and were first such study by the researchers.
Wang’s major studies showed the linkage between the
hormones in the plants and its function which was further enhanced by
steroids called
brassinosteroids
MONSTER WEED 
