Plant hormones are small molecules that play versatile roles in regulating plant growth, development, and responses to the environment. Classic methodologies, including genetics, analytic chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular biology, have contributed to the progress in plant hormone studies. In addition, chemical regulators of plant hormone functions have been important in such studies. Today, synthetic chemicals, including plant growth regulators, are used to study and manipulate biological systems, collectively referred to as chemical biology. Here, we summarize the available chemical regulators and their contributions to plant hormone studies. We also pose questions that remain to be addressed in plant hormone studies and that might be solved with the help of chemical regulators.

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ORCID IDs: 0000-0001-9901-5293 (K.J.); 0000-0003-0774-6203 (T.A.).Gibberellin (GA) is a major plant hormone that regulates plant growth and development and is widely used as a plant growth regulator in agricultural production. There is an increasing demand for function-limited GA mimics due to the limitations on the agronomical application of GA to crops, including GA's high cost of producing and its leading to the crops' lodging. AC94377, a substituted phthalimide, is a chemical that mimics the growth-regulating activity of GAs in various plants, despite its structural difference. Although AC94377 is widely studied in many weeds and crops, its mode of action as a GA mimic is largely unknown. In this study, we confirmed that AC94377 displays GA-like activities in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and demonstrated that AC94377 binds to the Arabidopsis GIBBERELLIN INSENSITIVE DWARF1 (GID1) receptor (AtGID1), forms the AtGID1-AC94377-DELLA complex, and induces the degradation of DELLA protein. Our results also indicated that AC94377 is selective for a specific subtype among three AtGID1s and that the selectivity of AC94377 is attributable to a single residue at the entrance to the hydrophobic pocket of GID1. We conclude that AC94377 is a GID1 agonist with selectivity for a specific subtype of GID1, which could be further developed and used as a function-limited regulator of plant growth in both basic study and agriculture.

Plant hormones strigolactones (SLs) were recently reported to induce leaf senescence. It was reported that sugar suppresses SL-induced leaf senescence in the dark; however, the mechanism of the crosstalk between SLs and the sugar signal in leaf senescence remains elusive. To understand this mechanism, we studied the effects of glucose (Glc) on various senescence-related parameters in leaves of the rice. We found that sugars alleviated SL-induced leaf senescence under dark conditions, and the co-treatment with Glc suppressed SL-induced hydrogen peroxide generation and membrane deterioration. It also suppressed the expression levels of antioxidant enzyme genes upregulated by SL, suggesting that Glc alleviates SL-induced senescence by inhibiting the oxidative processes. SLs can adapt to nutrient deficiency, a major factor of leaf senescence; therefore, we suggest the possibility that Glc and SL monitor the nutrient status in plants to regulate leaf senescence.