Abstract
Strigolactones (SLs) are a collection of related small molecules that act as hormones in plant growth and development. Intriguingly, SLs also act as ecological communicators between plants and mycorrhizal fungi and between host plants and a collection of parasitic plant species. In the case of mycorrhizal fungi, SLs exude into the soil from host roots to attract fungal hyphae for a beneficial interaction. In the case of parasitic plants, however, root-exuded SLs cause dormant parasitic plant seeds to germinate, thereby allowing the resulting seedling to infect the host and withdraw nutrients. Because a laboratory-friendly model does not exist for parasitic plants, researchers are currently using information gleaned from model plants like Arabidopsis in combination with the chemical probes developed through chemical genetics to understand SL perception of parasitic plants. This work first shows that understanding SL signaling is useful in developing chemical probes that perturb SL perception. Second, it indicates that the chemical space available to probe SL signaling in both model and parasitic plants is sizeable. Because these parasitic pests represent a major concern for food insecurity in the developing world, there is great need for chemical approaches to uncover novel lead compounds that perturb parasitic plant infections.
Highlights
Small organic molecules are important sources of signaling hormones in both plants and animals[1,2,3]
Rice[54] and pea[34] researchers used rescue of SL-deficient branching phenotypes as a screening tool to determine SL activity of their compounds. This approach led to the identification of phenoxy furanone derivatives called debranones that showed good SL activity they lacked the ABC ring structures and any enol-ether linkages (Figure 2). This observation that enol-ether chemistry was not required for activity was in part responsible in the development of on-off fluorescent probes such as yoshimulactone green (YLG) that were instrumental in understanding the SL responses in parasitic plants like Striga hermonthica (Figure 2)[49]
Concluding remarks The rapid increase in our knowledge of the fundamental biology of SL signaling based on studies on model plants is allowing researchers to test the mechanism by which SLs are perceived in parasitic plants
Summary
Small organic molecules are important sources of signaling hormones in both plants and animals[1,2,3]. This approach led to the identification of phenoxy furanone derivatives called debranones (de-branching furanones) that showed good SL activity they lacked the ABC ring structures and any enol-ether linkages (Figure 2) This observation that enol-ether chemistry was not required for activity was in part responsible in the development of on-off fluorescent probes such as yoshimulactone green (YLG) that were instrumental in understanding the SL responses in parasitic plants like Striga hermonthica (Figure 2)[49]. It is not surprising that small molecules resembling SLs have activity in SL-based plant assays, the identification of a large number of synthetic lead compounds from chemical screens that do not possess canonical SL structures is intriguing. This could reflect different binding sites and modes of action.
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