Dynamic control of plant water use using designed ABA receptor agonists. Science 2019 Oct 25;366(6464)
Date
10/28/2019Pubmed ID
31649167DOI
10.1126/science.aaw8848Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85074062657 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 139 CitationsAbstract
Drought causes crop losses worldwide, and its impact is expected to increase as the world warms. This has motivated the development of small-molecule tools for mitigating the effects of drought on agriculture. We show here that current leads are limited by poor bioactivity in wheat, a widely grown staple crop, and in tomato. To address this limitation, we combined virtual screening, x-ray crystallography, and structure-guided design to develop opabactin (OP), an abscisic acid (ABA) mimic with up to an approximately sevenfold increase in receptor affinity relative to ABA and up to 10-fold greater activity in vivo. Studies in Arabidopsis thaliana reveal a role of the type III receptor PYRABACTIN RESISTANCE-LIKE 2 for the antitranspirant efficacy of OP. Thus, virtual screening and structure-guided optimization yielded newly discovered agonists for manipulating crop abiotic stress tolerance and water use.
Author List
Vaidya AS, Helander JDM, Peterson FC, Elzinga D, Dejonghe W, Kaundal A, Park SY, Xing Z, Mega R, Takeuchi J, Khanderahoo B, Bishay S, Volkman BF, Todoroki Y, Okamoto M, Cutler SRAuthors
Francis C. Peterson PhD Professor in the Biochemistry department at Medical College of WisconsinBrian F. Volkman PhD Professor in the Biochemistry department at Medical College of Wisconsin
MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Abscisic AcidArabidopsis
Arabidopsis Proteins
Benzamides
Cyclohexanes
Droughts
Hormones
Models, Molecular
Plant Transpiration
Receptors, Cell Surface
Stress, Physiological
Triticum
Water
