As per a new study conducted by plant biologists at the Carnegie Institution, the playbook of molecular signals that govern genes in promoting growth and development in plant cells is far complicated than that of human and animal cells.

The study, which was conducted by Zhi-Yong Wang and Wenqinag Tang of the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Plant Biology with seven co-authors, was published in an issue of the Science Magazine.

Brassinosteroids (plant steroids) are key hormones in the world of Plant Kingdom. They tend to function in a different manner at the cellular level and have the ability to regulate different aspects of growth and development in plants.

From Bio-Medicine.org:

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 researchers called these proteins BSKs (brassinosteroid signaling kinases). Follow-up analyses confirmed their crucial function in brassinosteroid signaling.

“BRKs are the first major signaling component to be identified by a quantitative proteomics approach in plants.” says Wang. “Finding them fills a major gap in the brassinosteroid signal pathway and may have major implications for our understanding of other signaling processes in plants as well. The plant genome codes for many hundreds of receptors at the cell surface, but a major missing link is their connection to the intracellular signaling cascades. Plant cells also contain quite a number of proteins that are similar to BSK, so it is tempting to speculate that they represent these missing connections”. 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.

This study, which was conducted by hi-Yong Wang and Wenqinag Tang along with some team members, revealed that separation of membranes from the remaining of cell materials followed by an analysis of the fraction can help in isolating low-abundance signaling proteins besides identifying molecules. The study was primarily based on proteomics for identifying important links in the chain of steroid signaling.

Posted in Steroids