Abstract
Development of chemicals that induce phenotypes of interest is now emerging as a useful way to study biological systems in plants and this would be a complement to classical biochemical and genetic methods. Chemome is the general term for such chemicals. Exploring the small molecules that induce brassinosteroid (BR) deficient-like phenotype in Arabidopsis led us to identify a couple of BR biosynthesis inhibitors. They allow the investigation of the functions of BRs in a variety of plant species. Application of BR biosynthesis inhibitors to a standard genetic screen to identify mutants that confer resistance to these inhibitors allowed the identification of new components working in BR signal transduction. Other than BR biosynthesis inhibitors we developed ABA biosyntheisis inhibitors targeting carotenoid cleaving enzyme and ABA catabolism inhibitors targeting ABA hydroxylase. Both of them will be useful for investigating new functions of ABA and isolating new mutants of ABA signal transduction.
