{
  "abstract": "Brassinosteroids (BRs) are chemically diverse plant steroid hormones produced via a branched biosynthetic pathway. The potent BR brassinolide is sensed by the membrane receptor kinase BRI1 and a SERK co-receptor, but the physiological functions of other abundant BRs remain to be characterized. Here we present quantitative binding kinetics for 4 Arabidopsis thaliana BR receptors and 15 BRs, which define the key chemical features required for high-affinity receptor binding, ligand positioning and co-receptor recognition. BRI1, BRL1 and BRL3 share overlapping ligand preferences, whereas BRL2 binds C 28 BRs with moderate affinity. Structural analyses of BR-bound BRI1 and BRL3 ectodomains combined with extensive in vitro and in vivo mutagenesis studies reveal a high structural plasticity of the hormone-binding pocket. Functional assays using structure-based BR agonists and antagonists uncover that BR receptor–co-receptor signalling complexes can recognize chemically diverse BRs, introducing an additional, intriguing layer of BR signalling regulation.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Structural Plant Biology Laboratory, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland",
    "Structural Plant Biology Laboratory, Department of Plant Science, University of Geneva, 2 Geneva, Switzerland",
    "Laboratory of Growth Regulators, Faculty of Science, Palacký University & Institute of Experimental Botany, The Czech Academy of Sciences, Olomouc, Czech Republic",
    "Laboratory of Growth Regulators, Faculty of Science, Palacky University & Institute of Experimental Botany, The Czech Academy of Sciences, CZ-77900, Olomouc, Czech Republic",
    "Institute of Molecular Biology, Mainz, Germany",
    "Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA) & Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Vienna BioCenter (VBC), 100, Vienna, Austria",
    "Leibniz University Hannover, Hanover, Germany",
    "Retired from Leibniz University Hannover, Germany, present address: Im Grund 12, 31867 Lauenau, Germany",
    "Structural Plant Biology Laboratory, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. michael.hothorn@unige.ch"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 10,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "A. Caregnato",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2687-3662"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Houming Chen",
      "orcid": "0009-0007-8828-2549"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Miroslav Kvasnica",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0597-3261"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4,
        0,
        5,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Ulrich Hohmann",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2124-1439"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Jana Oklešťková",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7423-5537"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Karoll Ferrer",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1708-0815"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Larissa Broger",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1303-9778"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6,
        7
      ],
      "name": "Ludwig A. Hothorn",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5162-1486"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Miroslav Strnad",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2806-794X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Michael Hothorn",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3597-5698"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/1jftvwxfjenwh.bib",
  "cited_by": 6,
  "doi": "10.1038/s41477-026-02346-0",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "1jftvwxfjenwh",
  "issns": [
    "2055-026X",
    "2055-0278"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-026-02346-0",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "1110|Plant Molecular Biology Research"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W4413185849",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": "PMC13481262",
  "pmid": "42557407",
  "published": "2026-08-05",
  "publisher": "Nature Portfolio",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/1jftvwxfjenwh.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T13:26:50Z",
      "native_id": "W4413185849",
      "source": "openalex",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-026-02346-0"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:1110|Plant Molecular Biology Research",
      "subfield": "plant-biology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "A mechanistic framework for the recognition of chemically diverse brassinosteroids by BRI1-family receptor kinases",
  "title_text": "A mechanistic framework for the recognition of chemically diverse brassinosteroids by BRI1-family receptor kinases",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-09T13:21:09Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/1jftvwxfjenwh",
  "venue": "Nature Plants",
  "versions": []
}