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J Integr Plant Biol.

• Research Article •    

The artificial chemical Y21 serves as a GA-signaling agonist and an auxin analog to promote seed germination and root development

Jiahui Xu1,2†, Xiaofeng Luo1†, Shaowei Wei1†, Yueni Fan1, Zhikun Yang2,3, Xiaoting Zhao1, Mingyu Xia1, Baoshan Xian1, Xiaojing Xu1, Yali Liu1, Yiping Shi1, Mengyuan Ren1, Juan He1, Lei Wang1, Wenguan Zhou1, Weiming Tan2* and Kai Shu1,4*   

  1. 1. Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Qinling Ecological Intelligent Monitoring and Protection, School of Ecology and Environment,Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710129, China

    2. Engineering Research Center of Plant Growth Regulator, Ministry of Education & College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, ChinaAgricultural University, Beijing 100193, China

    3. College of Pharmaceutical Science & Green Pharmaceutical Collaborative Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta Region, ZhejiangUniversity of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China

    4. Research & Development, Institute of Northwestern Polytechnical University in Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518057, China†These authors contributed equally to this work.

    *Correspondences: Weiming Tan (tanwm@cau.edu.cn); Kai Shu (kshu@nwpu.edu.cn, Dr. Shu is fully responsible for the distribution ofall materials associated with this article)

  • Received:2025-05-21 Accepted:2025-09-26 Online:2025-11-16
  • Supported by:
    This researchwas supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32470364, 31872850, and 31872804),the Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi(2025JC‐JCQN‐056 and 2024JC‐YBMS‐151), the Guang-dong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation(2025A1515012749), the China Postdoctoral Science Foun-dation (2025M774348), and the Shaanxi Fundamental Sci-ence Research Project for Chemistry & Biology (22JHZ007and 22JHQ054).

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Abstract: Gibberellins (GAs) and auxin play central regulatory roles in seed germination and root system development, respectively, so that the application of these phytohormones to crops would be worthwhile, with an increasing potential demand in agriculture. However, there are few effective chemicals that simultaneously enhance both GA and auxin signaling. Here, we report on an artificial thiourea derivative chemical, Y21, that serves as both a GA-signaling agonist and an auxin analog, promoting seed germination and root development, as well as low-phosphorus tolerance. Phenotypic, biochemical, and genetic evidence demonstrated that Y21 enhances the interaction between GA and its receptor GID1C via the Val239 amino acid residue and consequently promotes degradation of the DELLA proteins REPRESSOR OF ga1-3 (RGA) and RGA-LIKE 2. Furthermore, we found that Y21 interacts with the auxin receptor TIR1 via the Cys405 residue and thus promotes the turnover of the auxin-responsive Aux/IAA proteins. Consequently, Y21 significantly increases low-phosphorus tolerance of treated plants by positively regulating lateral root development. To our knowledge, Y21 is the first GA-signaling agonist to be identified, and our results also demonstrate that this potent synthetic chemical, identified by chemical genetic screening, is effective at modulating plant development and stress tolerance.

Key words: arti?cial chemical, auxin, gibberellins, seed germination, stress

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