Bioprospecting Fluorescent Plant Growth Regulators from Arabidopsis to Vegetable Crops

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences 2021-03, Vol.22 (6), p.2797
• Main Authors: Sumalan, Radu L, Halip, Liliana, Maffei, Massimo E, Croitor, Lilia, Siminel, Anatolii V, Radulov, Izidora, Sumalan, Renata M, Crisan, Manuela E
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acetic acid; Agricultural practices; Arabidopsis; Arabidopsis - metabolism; auxin; Benzoates; Benzoic acid; Biological activity; Bioprospecting; Bioprospecting - methods; Chemical compounds; Computational chemistry; Computer applications; Crops; cucumber; Cucumbers; Cucumis sativus - metabolism; ethanolammonium p-aminobenzoate; Fluorescence; Germination; Growth regulators; Homology; Indoleacetic acid; Indoleacetic Acids - metabolism; Investigations; Lycopersicon esculentum - metabolism; Molecular docking; Molecular Docking Simulation; Nitrobenzoates - metabolism; Organic salts; para-Aminobenzoic acid; Plant growth; Plant Growth Regulators - chemistry; Plant Growth Regulators - metabolism; Plant Proteins - metabolism; Protein Binding; Receptors, Cell Surface - metabolism; Salts; Seeds; Stimulators; tomato; Tomatoes; Vegetables
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms22062797

The phytohormone auxin is involved in almost every process of a plant's life, from germination to plant development. Nowadays, auxin research connects synthetic chemistry, plant biology and computational chemistry in order to develop innovative and safe compounds to be used in sustainable agricultural practice. In this framework, we developed new fluorescent compounds, ethanolammonium -aminobenzoate (HEA- ABA) and -nitrobenzoate (HEA- NBA), and investigated their auxin-like behavior on two main commercial vegetables cultivated in Europe, cucumber ( ) and tomato ( ), in comparison to the model plant Arabidopsis ( ). Moreover, the binding modes and affinities of two organic salts in relation to the natural auxin indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) into TIR1 auxin receptor were investigated by computational approaches (homology modeling and molecular docking). Both experimental and theoretical results highlight HEA- ABA as a fluorescent compound with auxin-like activity both in Arabidopsis and the commercial cucumber and tomato. Therefore, alkanolammonium benzoates have a great potential as promising sustainable plant growth stimulators to be efficiently used in vegetable crops.