Steroids called brassinosteroids are found to boost growth and development in plants. This type of steroids is essential throughout the plant kingdom but is similar in many respects to animal steroids. Brassinosteroids in plants function differently from those found in animals since they respond to steroids using external receptor molecules within the cell membranes.

From ScienceDaily:

Steroids bulk up plants just as they do human athletes, but the playbook of molecular signals that tell the genes to boost growth and development in plant cells is far more complicated than in human and animal cells.

A new study by plant biologists at the Carnegie Institution used an emerging molecular approach called proteomics to identify key links in the steroid signaling chain. Understanding how these plant hormones activate genes could lead not only to enhanced harvests but also to new insights into how steroids regulate growth in both plant and animal cells.

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.

In the purpose of knowing how these plant steroids activate genes and enhanced plant growth, plant biologists at the Carnegie Institution used a molecular approach called proteomics to identify key links in the steroid signaling chain. The study targeted a class of proteins called kinases, which transmit signals by exchanging phosphate ions. The electrophoresis analyses identified a group of kinases that responded to the presence of brassinosteroids.

The study was conducted by Zhi-Yong Wang and Wenqinag Tang of the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Plant Biology with seven co-authors. The success of the proteomic methods demonstrated in the study by Wang and colleagues helped establish the connections of the steroid signaling pathway in plants and for steroid signaling by cell-surface receptors in general.

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