Strigolactones are low-molecular-weight phytohormones that play several roles in plants, such as regulation of shoot branching and interactions with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and parasitic weeds. Recently, strigolactones have been shown to be involved in plant responses to abiotic and biotic stress conditions. Herein, we analyzed the effects of strigolactones on systemic acquired resistance induced through salicylic acid-mediated signaling. We observed that the systemic acquired resistance inducer enhanced disease resistance in strigolactone-signaling and biosynthesis-deficient mutants. However, the amount of endogenous salicylic acid and the expression levels of salicylic acid-responsive genes were lower in strigolactone signaling-deficient max2 mutants than in wildtype plants. In both the wildtype and strigolactone biosynthesis-deficient mutants, the strigolactone analog GR24 enhanced disease resistance, whereas treatment with a strigolactone biosynthesis inhibitor suppressed disease resistance in the wildtype. Before inoculation of wildtype plants with pathogenic bacteria, treatment with GR24 did not induce defense-related genes; however, salicylic acid-responsive defense genes were rapidly induced after pathogenic infection. These findings suggest that strigolactones have a priming effect on Arabidopsis thaliana by inducing salicylic acid-mediated disease resistance.

Under low-Ca conditions, plants accumulate salicylic acid (SA) and induce SA-responsive genes. However, the relationship between SA and low-Ca tolerance remains unclear. Here, we demonstrated that the inhibition or suppression of nonexpressor of pathogenesis-related 1 (NPR1) activity, a major regulator of the SA signaling pathway in the defense response, improves shoot growth under low-Ca conditions. Furthermore, mutations in phytoalexin-deficient 4 (PAD4) or enhanced disease susceptibility 1 (EDS1), which are upstream regulators of NPR1, improved shoot growth under low-Ca conditions, suggesting that NPR1 suppressed growth under low-Ca conditions. In contrast, growth of SA induction–deficient 2-2 (sid2-2), which is an SA-deficient mutant, was sensitive to low Ca levels, suggesting that SA accumulation by SID2 was not related to growth inhibition under low-Ca conditions. Additionally, npr1-1 showed low-Ca tolerance, and the application of tenoxicam—an inhibitor of the NPR1-mediated activation of gene expression—also improved shoot growth under low Ca conditions. The low-Ca tolerance of double mutants pad4-1, npr1-1 and eds1-22 npr1-1 was similar to that of the single mutants, suggesting that PAD4 and EDS1 are involved in the same genetic pathway in suppressing growth under low-Ca conditions as NPR1. Cell death and low-Ca tolerance did not correlate among the mutants, suggesting that growth improvement in the mutants was not due to cell death inhibition. In conclusion, we revealed that NPR1 suppresses plant growth under low-Ca conditions and that the other SA-related genes influence plant growth and cell death.

Strigolactones (SLs), a class of plant hormones with multiple functions, mediate plant-plant and plant-microorganism communications in the rhizosphere. In this study, we developed potent strigolactone antagonists, which covalently bind to the strigolactone receptor D14, by preparing an array of triazole urea compounds. Using yeast two-hybrid assays and rice tillering assays, we identified a triazole urea compound KK094 as a potent inhibitor of strigolactone receptors. The LC-MS/MS analysis and X-ray crystallography concluded that KK094 was hydrolyzed by D14, and that a reaction product of this degradation covalently binds to the Ser residue of the catalytic triad of D14. We also identified KK052 and KK073, whose effects on D14–D53/D14–SLR1 complex formation were opposite due to a trifluoromethyl group on its benzene ring. These results demonstrate that triazole urea compounds are potentially powerful tools for agricultural application and may be useful for the elucidation of the complicated mechanism underlying SL-perception.