Molecular biology of gibberellins signaling in higher plants

Gibberellins (GAs), a large family of tetracyctic, diterpenoid plant hormones, play an important role in regulating diverse processes throughout plant development. In recent years, significant advances have been made in the isolation of GA signaling components and GA-responsive genes. All available data have indicated that DELLA proteins are an essential negative regulator in the GA signaling pathway and GA derepresses DELLA-mediated growth suppression by inducing degradation of DELLA proteins through the ubiquitin-26S proteasome proteolytic pathway. Identification of GID1, a gene encoding an unknown protein with similarity to hormone-sensitive lipases, has revealed that GID1 acts as a functional GA receptor with a reasonable binding affinity to biologically active GAs. Furthermore, the GID1 receptor interacts with DELLA proteins in a GA-dependent manner. These results suggest that formation of a GID1-GA-DELLA protein complex targets DELLA protein into the ubiquitin-26S proteasome pathway for degradation.