Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 108, Issue 49, Pages 19814-19819Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1108359108
Keywords
steroid reductase; 5 alpha-steroid reductase; propiconazole; uniconazole
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Funding
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) [19380069, 23380066]
- Rural Development Administration (Republic of Korea) [PJ906910]
- Agriculture and Food Research Initiative [2010-65116-20483]
- National Science Foundation [1054918]
- Purdue College of Agriculture
- Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship
- Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1054918] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Div Of Biological Infrastructure
- Direct For Biological Sciences [0820958] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [23380066] Funding Source: KAKEN
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Brassinosteroids (BRs) are plant hormones that regulate growth and development. They share structural similarities with animal steroids, which are decisive factors of sex determination. BRs are known to regulate morphogenesis and environmental stress responses, but their involvement in sex determination in plants has been only speculative. We show that BRs control sex determination in maize revealed through characterization of the classical dwarf mutant nana plant1 (na1), which also feminizes male flowers. na1 plants carry a loss-of-function mutation in a DET2 homolog-a gene in the BR biosynthetic pathway. The mutant accumulates the DET2-specific substrate (24R)-24-methylcholest-4-en-3-one with a concomitant decrease of downstream BR metabolites. Treatment of wild-type maize plants with BR biosynthesis inhibitors completely mimicked both dwarf and tassel-seed phenotypes of na1 mutants. Tissue-specific na1 expression in anthers throughout their development supports the hypothesis that BRs promote masculinity of the male inflorescence. These findings suggest that, in the monoecious plant maize, BRs have been coopted to perform a sex determination function not found in plants with bisexual flowers.
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