Gibberellin metabolism and its regulation in plants

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Gibberellin (GA) is one of the plant produced compounds that are active and influence growth and developmental processes at very low concentrations, usually coined as "plant hormones". GA controls a wide range of plant developmental events including seed germination, stem elongation, leaf expansion, and flower, fruit and seed development. Deficiency or excess amounts of GA in plants affects their normal growth and development. Plants with low amounts of GA are dwarf, and exhibit low fertility and failure in seed development. By contrast, excess amounts of GA in plants triggers excessive growth, sterility and premature seed germination. Therefore, it is important for plants to control the levels of the growth-active form of GA by balancing its formation and degradation. Plants employ different strategies to ensure this balance and limit the amounts of GA. Several strategies and regulatory elements acting in the formation or degradation of the growth-active GA have been identified. However, given its multiple roles and complex metabolic pathways, it is more than likely that unknown strategies exist. The long term goal of my research program is to understand in detail how a plant fine-tunes the amounts of growth-active GA in its tissues during development and in response to the environment. The specific objective of this research is to investigate and identify new strategies that are involved in the regulation of plant GA levels. The outcomes of this study will advance our knowledge of how a plant maintains optimal amounts of GA for ensuring its normal growth and development. Since GA has diverse functions in plants; the findings of this work will provide powerful tools for improving crop performance and yield. Further, as this research involves training of graduate and undergraduate students, it will contribute to Canada's need for highly qualified plant biologists.