Gibberellins close the lid

摘要

Gibberellins regulate many aspects of plant growth and development. Crystal structures of their receptors provide a view in unprecedented detail of how these hormones operate at the molecular level. We owe a lot to gibberellins. The green revolution depended on the introduction of semi-dwarfing genes that impair the biosynthesis or signalling systems of these naturally occurring plant hormones, and they or their biosynthetic inhibitors continue to be widely used to regulate crop growth. A clear understanding of how they function has emerged only recently, a notable advance being the identification of a gibberellin receptor in 2005. On pages 459 and 520 of this issue, Murase et al. and Shimada et al. take matters further. They describe the crystal structure of receptors from two plant species, providing deeper insight into how gibberellins are perceived by plant cells.