Dynamic Control of Plant Water Use Using Designed ABA Receptor Agonists

Authors

Aditya S. Vaidya, University of California, Riverside
Jonathan D. M. Helander, University of California, Riverside
Francis C. Peterson, Medical College of Wisconson
Dezi Elzinga, University of California, Riverside
Wilm Dejonghe, University of California, Riverside
Amita Kaundal, Utah State UniversityFollow
Sang-Youl Park, University of California, Riverside
Zenan Xing, University of California, Riverside
Ryousuke Mega, Tottori University
Jun Takeuchi, Shizuoka University
Bardia Khanderahoo, University of California, Riverside
Steven Bishay, University of California, Riverside
Brian F. Volkman, Medical College of Wisconsin
Yasushi Tadoroki, Shizuoka University
Masanori Okamoto, Utsunomiya University
Sean R. Cutler, University of Califronia, Riverside

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Science

Volume

366

Issue

6464

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science

Publication Date

10-25-2019

First Page

1

Last Page

10

Abstract

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.

Comments

false

Recommended Citation

Aditya S. Vaidya, Jonathan D. M. Helander, Francis C. Peterson, Dezi Elzinga, Wim Dejonghe, Amita Kaundal, Sang-Youl Park, Zenan, Ryousuke Mega, Jun Takeuchi, Bardia Khanderahoo, Steven Bishay, Brian F. Volkman, Yasushi Todoroki, Masanori Okamoto, Sean R. Cutler 2019. Dynamic control of plant water use using designed ABA receptor agonists. Science 366, 6464