Hormonal signals in plants regulate critical processes as diverse as growth and reproduction to adaptation to environmental stresses. Collectively, these processes dictate agricultural productivity and plant adaptation to environmental change. The project takes a combined biochemical and molecular approach to understand how the mechanisms of action of a steroid hormone, brassinolide (BR), are regulated. This hormone has profound effects on plant growth and development. The PI and co-PI will exploit the unexpected and newly described interactions between the BR receptor, BRI1, and the regulatory protein calmodulin to elucidate a broader network of responses required for optimum plant growth and reproductive success that were previously unrecognized. Their experimental approach will involve defining changes to BRI1 that disrupt its interaction with calmodulin by mutating the BRI1 protein. Altered forms of BRI identified in these experiments will then be introduced into a dwarf mutant lacking BRI1 activity. The effects of this transformation on gene expression patterns, plant growth and reproduction will be quantified to provide new insights into the molecular bases for regulating plant growth. In addition to the new scientific information generated, the project will provide hands-on research opportunities for students from groups under-represented in science by specifically recruiting them for summer internships on the project. As part of a program to enhance both the scientific and mentorship skills of a next-generation research scientist, a postdoctoral researcher will participate in the project together with the PI and co-PI.
