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Title: Dynamic control of plant water use using designed ABA receptor agonists
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 inArabidopsis thalianareveal a role of the type III receptorPYRABACTIN RESISTANCE-LIKE 2for 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.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1656890
PAR ID:
10122106
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Science
Volume:
366
Issue:
6464
ISSN:
0036-8075
Page Range / eLocation ID:
Article No. eaaw8848
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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