Investigating the regulatory role of brassinosteroids in gibberellic acid homeostasis

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Brassinosteroids (BRs) are plant steroids that regulate cell division, cell differentiation and cellular patterning. The BRs control fundamental biological processes including germination, development in the light and dark, vascular differentiation, flowering, fruit development and senescence. Since another class of plant hormones, the gibberellic acids (GAs), function in highly similar developmental programs and growth processes, a cross talk of BRs and GAs has long been suspected. However, up to date results had suggested that this cross talk is restricted to the signaling level with both pathways contributing factors that interact to modulate transcription of common target genes.This proposal is based on novel findings, which provide first evidence for a central regulatory function of BRs in the control of GA homeostasis in Arabidopsis thaliana. The research is conceived to elucidate the underlying molecular modes, and thereby intends to improve our understanding of principles of growth regulation in plants.