The Arabidopsis Leucine-Rich Repeat Receptor Kinase BIR3 Negatively Regulates BAK1 Receptor Complex Formation and Stabilizes BAK1.

BAK1 is a coreceptor and positive regulator of multiple ligand binding leucine-rich repeat receptor kinases (LRR-RKs) and is involved in brassinosteroid (BR)-dependent growth and development, innate immunity, and cell death control. The BAK1-interacting LRR-RKs BIR2 and BIR3 were previously identified by proteomics analyses of in vivo BAK1 complexes. Here, we show that BAK1-related pathways such as innate immunity and cell death control are affected by BIR3 in Arabidopsis thaliana BIR3 also has a strong negative impact on BR signaling. BIR3 directly interacts with the BR receptor BRI1 and other ligand binding receptors and negatively regulates BR signaling by competitive inhibition of BRI1. BIR3 is released from BAK1 and BRI1 after ligand exposure and directly affects the formation of BAK1 complexes with BRI1 or FLAGELLIN SENSING2. Double mutants of bak1 and bir3 show spontaneous cell death and constitutive activation of defense responses. BAK1 and its closest homolog BKK1 interact with and are stabilized by BIR3, suggesting that bak1 bir3 double mutants mimic the spontaneous cell death phenotype observed in bak1 bkk1 mutants via destabilization of BIR3 target proteins. Our results provide evidence for a negative regulatory mechanism for BAK1 receptor complexes in which BIR3 interacts with BAK1 and inhibits ligand binding receptors to prevent BAK1 receptor complex formation.

Direct Modulation of Heterotrimeric G Protein-coupled Signaling by a Receptor Kinase Complex.

Plants and some protists have heterotrimeric G protein complexes that activate spontaneously without canonical G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). In Arabidopsis, the sole 7-transmembrane regulator of G protein signaling 1 (AtRGS1) modulates the G protein complex by keeping it in the resting state (GDP-bound). However, it remains unknown how a myriad of biological responses is achieved with a single G protein modulator. We propose that in complete contrast to G protein activation in animals, plant leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases (LRR RLKs), not GPCRs, provide this discrimination through phosphorylation of AtRGS1 in a ligand-dependent manner. G protein signaling is directly activated by the pathogen-associated molecular pattern flagellin peptide 22 through its LRR RLK, FLS2, and co-receptor BAK1.

An autophosphorylation site database for leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases (LRR RLKs) form a large family of plant signaling proteins consisting of an extracellular domain connected by a single-pass transmembrane sequence to a cytoplasmic kinase domain. Autophosphorylation on specific Ser and/or Thr residues in the cytoplasmic domain is often critical for the activation of several LRR RLK family members with proven functional roles in plant growth regulation, morphogenesis, disease resistance, and stress responses. While identification and functional characterization of in vivo phosphorylation sites is ultimately required for a full understanding of LRR RLK biology and function, bacterial expression of recombinant LRR RLK cytoplasmic catalytic domains for identification of in vitro autophosphorylation sites provides a useful resource for further targeted identification and functional analysis of in vivo sites. In this study we employed high-throughput cloning and a variety of mass spectrometry approaches to generate an autophosphorylation site database representative of more than 30% of the approximately 223 LRR RLKs in Arabidopsis thaliana. We used His-tagged constructs of complete cytoplasmic domains to identify a total of 592 phosphorylation events across 73 LRR RLKs, with 497 sites uniquely assigned to specific Ser (268 sites) or Thr (229 sites) residues in 68 LRR RLKs. Multiple autophosphorylation sites per LRR RLK were the norm, with an average of seven sites per cytoplasmic domain, while some proteins showed more than 20 unique autophosphorylation sites. The database was used to analyze trends in the localization of phosphorylation sites across cytoplasmic kinase subdomains and to derive a statistically significant sequence motif for phospho-Ser autophosphorylation.

The brassinosteroid insensitive1-like3 signalosome complex regulates Arabidopsis root development.

Brassinosteroid (BR) hormones are primarily perceived at the cell surface by the leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase brassinosteroid insensitive1 (BRI1). In Arabidopsis thaliana, BRI1 has two close homologs, BRI1-LIKE1 (BRL1) and BRL3, respectively, which are expressed in the vascular tissues and regulate shoot vascular development. Here, we identify novel components of the BRL3 receptor complex in planta by immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry analysis. Whereas BRI1 associated kinase1 (BAK1) and several other known BRI1 interactors coimmunoprecipitated with BRL3, no evidence was found of a direct interaction between BRI1 and BRL3. In addition, we confirmed that BAK1 interacts with the BRL1 receptor by coimmunoprecipitation and fluorescence microscopy analysis. Importantly, genetic analysis of brl1 brl3 bak1-3 triple mutants revealed that BAK1, BRL1, and BRL3 signaling modulate root growth and development by contributing to the cellular activities of provascular and quiescent center cells. This provides functional relevance to the observed protein-protein interactions of the BRL3 signalosome. Overall, our study demonstrates that cell-specific BR receptor complexes can be assembled to perform different cellular activities during plant root growth, while highlighting that immunoprecipitation of leucine-rich repeat receptor kinases in plants is a powerful approach for unveiling signaling mechanisms with cellular resolution in plant development.

Deactivation of the Arabidopsis BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE 1 (BRI1) receptor kinase by autophosphorylation within the glycine-rich loop.

The activity of the dual-specificity receptor kinase, brassinosteroid insensitive 1 (BRI1), reflects the balance between phosphorylation-dependent activation and several potential mechanisms for deactivation of the receptor. In the present report, we elucidate a unique mechanism for deactivation that involves autophosphorylation of serine-891 in the ATP-binding domain. Serine-891 was identified previously as a potential site of autophosphorylation by mass spectrometry, and sequence-specific antibodies and mutagenesis studies now unambiguously establish phosphorylation of this residue. In vivo, phosphorylation of serine-891 increased slowly with time following application of brassinolide (BL) to Arabidopsis seedlings, whereas phosphorylation of threonine residues increased rapidly and then remained constant. Transgenic plants expressing the BRI1(S891A)-Flag-directed mutant have increased hypocotyl and petiole lengths, relative to wild-type BRI1-Flag (both in the bri1-5 background), and accumulate higher levels of the unphosphorylated form of the BES1 transcription factor in response to exogenous BL. In contrast, plants expressing the phosphomimetic S891D-directed mutant are severely dwarfed and do not accumulate unphosphorylated BES1 in response to BL. Collectively, these results suggest that autophosphorylation of serine-891 is one of the deactivation mechanisms that inhibit BRI1 activity and BR signaling in vivo. Many arginine-aspartate (RD)-type leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases have a phosphorylatable residue within the ATP-binding domain, suggesting that this mechanism may play a broad role in receptor kinase deactivation.

Genetic evidence for an indispensable role of somatic embryogenesis receptor kinases in brassinosteroid signaling.

The Arabidopsis thaliana somatic embryogenesis receptor kinases (SERKs) consist of five members, SERK1 to SERK5, of the leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase subfamily II (LRR-RLK II). SERK3 was named BRI1-Associated Receptor Kinase 1 (BAK1) due to its direct interaction with the brassinosteroid (BR) receptor BRI1 in vivo, while SERK4 has also been designated as BAK1-Like 1 (BKK1) for its functionally redundant role with BAK1. Here we provide genetic and biochemical evidence to demonstrate that SERKs are absolutely required for early steps in BR signaling. Overexpression of four of the five SERKs-SERK1, SERK2, SERK3/BAK1, and SERK4/BKK1-suppressed the phenotypes of an intermediate BRI1 mutant, bri1-5. Overexpression of the kinase-dead versions of these four genes in the bri1-5 background, on the other hand, resulted in typical dominant negative phenotypes, resembling those of null BRI1 mutants. We isolated and generated single, double, triple, and quadruple mutants and analyzed their phenotypes in detail. While the quadruple mutant is embryo-lethal, the serk1 bak1 bkk1 triple null mutant exhibits an extreme de-etiolated phenotype similar to a null bri1 mutant. While overexpression of BRI1 can drastically increase hypocotyl growth of wild-type plants, overexpression of BRI1 does not alter hypocotyl growth of the serk1 bak1 bkk1 triple mutant. Biochemical analysis indicated that the phosphorylation level of BRI1 in serk1 bak1 bkk1 is incapable of sensing exogenously applied BR. As a result, the unphosphorylated level of BES1 has lost its sensitivity to the BR treatment in the triple mutant, indicating that the BR signaling pathway has been completely abolished in the triple mutant. These data clearly demonstrate that SERKs are essential to the early events of BR signaling.

Identification and functional analysis of tomato BRI1 and BAK1 receptor kinase phosphorylation sites.

Brassinosteroids (BRs) are plant hormones that are perceived at the cell surface by a membrane-bound receptor kinase, BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE1 (BRI1). BRI1 interacts with BRI1-ASSOCIATED RECEPTOR KINASE1 (BAK1) to initiate a signal transduction pathway in which autophosphorylation and transphosphorylation of BRI1 and BAK1, as well as phosphorylation of multiple downstream substrates, play critical roles. Detailed mechanisms of BR signaling have been examined in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), but the role of BRI1 and BAK1 phosphorylation in crop plants is unknown. As a foundation for understanding the mechanism of BR signaling in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), we used liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to identify multiple in vitro phosphorylation sites of the tomato BRI1 and BAK1 cytoplasmic domains. Kinase assays showed that both tomato BRI1 and BAK1 are active in autophosphorylation as well as transphosphorylation of each other and specific peptide substrates with a defined sequence motif. Site-directed mutagenesis revealed that the highly conserved kinase domain activation loop residue threonine-1054 was essential for tomato BRI1 autophosphorylation and peptide substrate phosphorylation in vitro. Furthermore, analysis of transgenic lines expressing full-length tomato BRI1-Flag constructs in the weak tomato bri1 allele, curl3(-abs1), demonstrated that threonine-1054 is also essential for normal BRI1 signaling and tomato growth in planta. Finally, we cloned the tomato ortholog of TGF-ß Receptor Interacting Protein (TRIP1), which was previously shown to be a BRI1-interacting protein and kinase domain substrate in Arabidopsis, and found that tomato TRIP1 is a substrate of both tomato BRI1 and BAK1 kinases in vitro.

Brassinosteroid signal transduction: from receptor kinase activation to transcriptional networks regulating plant development.

Brassinosteroid (BR) signal transduction research has progressed rapidly from the initial discovery of the BR receptor to a complete definition of the basic molecular components required to relay the BR signal from perception by receptor kinases at the cell surface to activation of a small family of transcription factors that regulate the expression of more than a thousand genes in a BR-dependent manner. These mechanistic advances have helped answer the intriguing question of how a single molecule, such as a hormone, can have dramatic pleiotropic effects on a broad range of diverse developmental pathways and have shed light on how BRs interact with other plant hormones and environmental cues to shape the growth of the whole plant. This review summarizes the current state of BR signal transduction research and then examines recent articles uncovering gene regulatory networks through which BR influences both vegetative and reproductive development.

Calcium/calmodulin inhibition of the Arabidopsis BRASSINOSTEROID-INSENSITIVE 1 receptor kinase provides a possible link between calcium and brassinosteroid signalling.

The receptor kinase BRI1 (BRASSINOSTEROID-INSENSITIVE 1) is a key component in BR (brassinosteroid) perception and signal transduction, and has a broad impact on plant growth and development. In the present study, we demonstrate that Arabidopsis CaM (calmodulin) binds to the recombinant cytoplasmic domain of BRI1 in a Ca2+-dependent manner in vitro. In silico analysis predicted binding to Helix E of the BRI1 kinase subdomain VIa and a synthetic peptide based on this sequence interacted with Ca2+/CaM. Co-expression of CaM with the cytoplasmic domain of BRI1 in Escherichia coli strongly reduced autophosphorylation of BRI1, in particular on tyrosine residues, and also reduced the BRI1-mediated transphosphorylation of E. coli proteins on tyrosine, threonine and presumably serine residues. Several isoforms of CaM and CMLs (CaM-like proteins) were more effective (AtCaM6, AtCaM7 and AtCML8, where At is Arabidopsis thaliana) than others (AtCaM2, AtCaM4 and AtCML11) when co-expressed with BRI1 in E. coli. These results establish a novel assay for recombinant BRI1 transphosphorylation activity and collectively uncover a possible new link between Ca2+ and BR signalling.

Autophosphorylation of Tyr-610 in the receptor kinase BAK1 plays a role in brassinosteroid signaling and basal defense gene expression.

BAK1 is a leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase that functions as a coreceptor with the brassinosteroid (BR) receptor BRI1 and the flagellin receptor FLS2, and as a negative regulator of programmed cell death. BAK1 has been shown to autophosphorylate on numerous serine/threonine sites in vitro as well as to transphosphorylate associated receptor kinases both in vitro and in planta. In the present study we identify Tyr-610 in the carboxyl-terminal domain of BAK1 as a major site of autophosphorylation that is brassinolide-induced in vivo and requires a kinase-active BAK1. Expression of BAK1(Y610F)-Flag in transgenic plants lacking the endogenous bak1 and its functional paralogue, bkk1, produced plants that were viable but extremely small and generally resembled BR signaling mutants, whereas an acidic substitution for Tyr-610 to mimic phosphorylation restored normal growth. Several lines of evidence support the notion that BR signaling is impaired in the BAK1(Y610F)-Flag plants, and are consistent with the recently proposed sequential transphosphorylation model for BRI1/BAK1 interaction and activation. In contrast, the FLS2-mediated inhibition of seedling growth by the flg22 elicitor occurred normally in the Y610F-directed mutant. However, expression of many defense genes was dramatically reduced in BAK1(Y610F) plants and the nonpathogenic hrpA mutant of Pseudomonas syringae was able to grow rapidly in the mutant. These results indicate that phosphorylation of Tyr-610 is required for some but not all functions of BAK1, and adds significantly to the emerging notion that tyrosine phosphorylation could play an important role in plant receptor kinase signaling.

Enhancing Arabidopsis leaf growth by engineering the BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE1 receptor kinase.

The BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE1 (BRI1) receptor kinase has recently been shown to possess tyrosine kinase activity, and preventing autophosphorylation of the tyrosine-831 regulatory site by site-directed mutagenesis enhances shoot growth. In this study, we characterized the increased leaf growth of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants expressing BRI1(Y831F)-Flag compared with BRI1-Flag (both driven by the native promoter and expressed in the bri1-5 weak allele background) and provide insights into the possible mechanisms involved. On average, relative leaf growth rate was increased 16% in the Y831F plants (in the bri1-5 background), and the gain of function of the Y831F-directed mutant was dominant in the wild-type background. Leaves were larger as a result of increased cell numbers and had substantially increased vascularization. Transcriptome analysis indicated that genes associated with brassinolide biosynthesis, secondary cell wall biosynthesis and vascular development, and regulation of growth were altered in expression and may contribute to the observed changes in leaf architecture and whole plant growth. Analysis of gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence indicated that Y831F mutant plants had higher rates of photosynthesis, and metabolite analysis documented enhanced accumulation of starch, sucrose, and several amino acids, most prominently glycine and proline. These results demonstrate that mutation of BRI1 can enhance photosynthesis and leaf growth/vascularization and may suggest new approaches to increase whole plant carbon assimilation and growth.

Tyrosine phosphorylation of the BRI1 receptor kinase emerges as a component of brassinosteroid signaling in Arabidopsis.

Brassinosteroids (BRs) are essential growth-promoting hormones that regulate many aspects of plant growth and development. Two leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases (LRR-RLKs) are involved in BR perception and signal transduction: brassinosteroid insensitive 1 (BRI1), which is the BR receptor, and its coreceptor BRI1-associated kinase 1 (BAK1). Both proteins are classified as serine/threonine protein kinases, but here we report that recombinant cytoplasmic domains of BRI1 and BAK1 also autophosphorylate on tyrosine residues and thus are dual-specificity kinases. With BRI1, Tyr-831 and Tyr-956 are identified as autophosphorylation sites in vitro and in vivo. Interestingly, Tyr-956 in kinase subdomain V is essential for activity, because the Y956F mutant is catalytically inactive and thus this site cannot be simply manipulated by mutagenesis. In contrast, Tyr-831 in the juxtamembrane domain is not essential for kinase activity but plays an important role in BR signaling in vivo, because expression of BRI1(Y831F)-Flag in transgenic bri1-5 plants results in plants with larger leaves (but altered leaf shape) and early flowering relative to plants expressing wild-type BRI1-Flag. Acidic substitutions of Tyr-831 restored normal leaf size (but not shape) and normal flowering time. This is an example where a specific tyrosine residue has been shown to play an important role in vivo in plant receptor kinase function. Interestingly, 6 additional LRR-RLKs (of the 23 tested) were also found to autophosphorylate on tyrosine in addition to serine and threonine, suggesting that tyrosine signaling should be considered with other plant receptor kinases as well.

Genome-wide cloning and sequence analysis of leucine-rich repeat receptor-like protein kinase genes in Arabidopsis thaliana.

BACKGROUND: Transmembrane receptor kinases play critical roles in both animal and plant signaling pathways regulating growth, development, differentiation, cell death, and pathogenic defense responses. In Arabidopsis thaliana, there are at least 223 Leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases (LRR-RLKs), representing one of the largest protein families. Although functional roles for a handful of LRR-RLKs have been revealed, the functions of the majority of members in this protein family have not been elucidated. RESULTS: As a resource for the in-depth analysis of this important protein family, the complementary DNA sequences (cDNAs) of 194 LRR-RLKs were cloned into the Gateway donor vector pDONR/Zeo and analyzed by DNA sequencing. Among them, 157 clones showed sequences identical to the predictions in the Arabidopsis sequence resource, TAIR8. The other 37 cDNAs showed gene structures distinct from the predictions of TAIR8, which was mainly caused by alternative splicing of pre-mRNA. Most of the genes have been further cloned into Gateway destination vectors with GFP or FLAG epitope tags and have been transformed into Arabidopsis for in planta functional analysis. All clones from this study have been submitted to the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center (ABRC) at Ohio State University for full accessibility by the Arabidopsis research community. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the Arabidopsis LRR-RLK genes have been isolated and the sequence analysis showed a number of alternatively spliced variants. The generated resources, including cDNA entry clones, expression constructs and transgenic plants, will facilitate further functional analysis of the members of this important gene family.

The tomato brassinosteroid receptor BRI1 increases binding of systemin to tobacco plasma membranes, but is not involved in systemin signaling.

The tomato wound signal systemin is perceived by a specific high-affinity, saturable, and reversible cell surface receptor. This receptor was identified as the receptor-like kinase SR160, which turned out to be identical to the brassinosteroid receptor BRI1. Recently, it has been shown that the tomato bri1 null mutant cu3 is as sensitive to systemin as wild type plants. Here we explored these contradictory findings by studying the responses of tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum) to systemin. A fluorescently-labeled systemin analog bound specifically to plasma membranes of tobacco suspension-cultured cells that expressed the tomato BRI1-FLAG transgene, but not to wild type tobacco cells. On the other hand, signaling responses to systemin, such as activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases and medium alkalinization, were neither increased in BRI1-FLAG-overexpressing tobacco cells nor decreased in BRI1-silenced cells as compared to levels in untransformed control cells. Furthermore, in transgenic tobacco plants BRI1-FLAG became phosphorylated on threonine residues in response to brassinolide application, but not in response to systemin. When BRI1 transcript levels were reduced by virus-induced gene silencing in tomato plants, the silenced plants displayed a phenotype characteristic of bri1 mutants. However, their response to overexpression of the Prosystemin transgene was the same as in control plants. Taken together, our data suggest that BRI1 can function as a systemin binding protein, but that binding of the ligand does not transduce the signal into the cell. This unusual behavior and the nature of the elusive systemin receptor will be discussed.

Enrichment and preparation of plasma membrane proteins from Arabidopsis thaliana for global proteomic analysis using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

The plasma membrane proteins are critical components in cellular control and differentiation and thus are of special interest to those studying signal transduction mechanisms in all organisms. When conducting proteomic studies on membrane components of cells and tissues, the complexity is not simply confined to the large number of proteins present in the sample but also to the highly hydrophobic nature of membrane proteins containing multiple transmembrane domains. Consequently, these proteins are more difficult to analyze by mass spectrometry, particularly if protein sequence coverage is to be established. This chapter contains a method for extraction, solubilization, alkylation, proteolysis, and identification of hydrophobic integral plasma membrane proteins for large-scale proteomic analysis using strong cation exchange chromatography (SCXC) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). In our approach, microsomes are isolated from plant tissue and then subjected to a two-phase extraction procedure to enrich for plasma membranes. Proteins are extracted and solubilized from the membrane using a methanol-aqueous buffer system that allows for effective reduction, cysteinyl alkylation, and tryptic digestion for subsequent SCXC-LC/MS/MS analysis. Our protocol is also amenable to isotope labeling methods to quantify integral membrane protein expression and post-translational modifications. In addition to plants, the method can be applied to other systems quite readily; thus, we anticipate that it will be of general interest to those characterizing plasma membrane proteins of any organism.

Shooting control by brassinosteroids: metabolomic analysis and effect of brassinazole on Malus prunifolia, the Marubakaido apple rootstock.

To help unravel the role of brassinosteroids (BRs) in the control of shooting, we treated the shoots of Marubakaido apple rootstock (Malus prunifolia (Willd.) Borkh cv. Marubakaido) with brassinolide and Brz 220, an inhibitor of BR biosynthesis. Brassinolide differentially affected elongation and formation of main and primary lateral shoots, which resulted in reduced apical dominance. Treatment of shoots with increasing doses of Brz 220 led to a progressive inhibition of main shoot elongation. Eight different BRs were also identified in the shoots of M. prunifolia. Progressive decline in 6-deoxocathasterone, 6-deoxotyphasterol and castasterone was related to increased doses of Brz 220. Analysis of the metabolic profiles between a fluoro-containing derivative of 28-homocastasterone (5F-HCS) using treated and untreated shoots demonstrated that no 5F-HCS-specific metabolite was identified. However, 4 weeks after the treatment, fructose, glucose and the putatively identified gulonic acid were higher in 5F-HCS-treated shoots, compared to untreated shoots. These results indicate that the previously reported 5F-HCS-induced stimulation of shoot elongation and formation of new shoots in the Marubakaido shoots is under the control of changes in the endogenous BR pool. In addition, the results presented in this report also indicate that the 5F-HCS-induced shooting likely involves a variety of different mechanisms and consequently does not result from changes in the endogenous levels of any single metabolite.

Brassinosteroid signaling: novel downstream components emerge.

Continued genetic screening and analysis of Arabidopsis mutants has extended our view of brassinosteroid signaling beyond hormone perception to downstream events involving a negative cytoplasmic regulator and nuclear localized positive activators of the brassinosteroid response.

Brassinosteroid/Abscisic Acid Antagonism in Balancing Growth and Stress.

In this issue of Developmental Cell, Gui et al. (2016) show that an abscisic acid-inducible remorin protein in rice directly interacts with critical brassinosteroid signaling components to attenuate the brassinosteroid response, thus illuminating one aspect of the brassinosteroid/abscisic acid antagonism.

Functional analysis of the BRI1 receptor kinase by Thr-for-Ser substitution in a regulatory autophosphorylation site.

BRI1 becomes highly phosphorylated in vivo upon perception of the ligand, brassinolide, as a result of autophosphorylation and transphosphorylation by its co-receptor kinase, BAK1. Important autophosphorylation sites include those involved in activation of kinase activity and those that are inhibitory, such as Ser-891. The inhibitory sites are autophosphorylated after kinase activation has been achieved and are postulated to contribute to deactivation of the kinase. The function of phosphosites is usually tested by substituting a non-phosphorylatable residue or an acidic residue that can act as a phosphomimetic. What has typically not been examined is substitution of a Thr for a Ser phosphosite (or vice versa) but given that Thr and Ser are not equivalent amino acids this type of substitution may represent a new approach to engineer regulatory phosphorylation. In the present study with BRI1, we substituted Thr at the Ser-891 phosphosite to generate the S891T directed mutant. The recombinant Flag-BRI1 (S891T) cytoplasmic domain protein (the S891T protein) was catalytically active and phosphorylation occurred at the engineered Thr-891 site. However, the S891T recombinant protein autophosphorylated more slowly than the wild-type protein during expression in E. coli. As a result, activation of peptide kinase activity (measured in vitro) was delayed as was transphosphorylation of bacterial proteins in situ. Stable transgenic expression of BRI1 (S891T)-Flag in Arabidopsis bri1-5 plants did not fully rescue the brassinosteroid (BR) phenotype indicating that BR signaling was constrained. Our working model is that restricted signaling in the S891T plants occurs as a result of the reduced rate of activation of the mutant BRI1 kinase by autophosphorylation. These results provide the platform for future studies to critically test this new model in vivo and establish Ser-Thr substitutions at phosphosites as an interesting approach to consider with other protein kinases.