Brassinosteroid-induced exaggerated growth in hydroponically grown Arabidopsis plants

The effects of root application of brassinolide (BL) on the growth and development of Arabidopsis plants (Arabidopsis thaliana ecotype Columbia [L.] Heynh) were evaluated. Initially, all leaves were evaluated on plants 18, 22, 26 and 29 days old. The younger leaves were found to exhibit maximal petiole elongation and upward leaf bending in response to BL treatment. Therefore, based on these results leaves 6, 7 and 8 on 22-24-day-old plants were selected for all subsequent studies. Elongation along the length of the petiole in response to BL treatment was uniform with the exception of an approximately 4 mm region next to the leaf where upward curvature was observed. Both BL and 24-epibrassinolide (24-epiBL) were evaluated, with BL being more effective at lower concentrations than 24-epiBL. The exaggerated growth induced by 0.1 μM BL was not observed in plants treated with 1 000-fold higher concentrations of GA₃, IAA, NAA or 2,4-D (100 μM). In addition, no exaggerated growth effects were observed when plants were treated with 200 ppm ethylene or 1 mM ACC. All treatments with BL, NAA, 2,4-D, IAA or ACC promoted ethylene and ACC production in wild type Arabidopsis plants, but only BL triggered exaggerated plant growth. BL also promoted exaggerated growth and elevated levels of ACC and ethylene in the ethylene insensitive mutant etr1-3, showing that the effect of BR on growth is independent of ethylene. This work provides evidence that BR-induced exaggerated growth of Arabidopsis plants is independent of gibberellins, auxins and ethylene.