Plant hormones regulate every step of the plant life cycle. Elucidating the perception mechanism of plant hormones by their receptors is crucial for understanding plant growth and development, protecting plant and the associated ecosystem, as well as for enhancing food security worldwide. Plant branching is mainly regulated by the branching hormone strigolactone and related phytohormones. The study on the molecular basis of strigolactone action, especially the perception mechanism, has made important breakthrough in recent years:The strigolactone perception mechanisms in the monocot plant rice, the dicot plant Arabidopsis and the parasitic weed Striga have been systematically elucidated, revolutionarily revealing a non-canonical hormone perception mechanism which is different from the reversible "ligand-receptor" perception mode that has been gradually established during the past century. These findings will provide theoretical guidances for breeding crops with ideal architecture as well as for combating the root parasitic weed. In this short review, we will give a brief introduction to the recent advances in strigolactone perception.

strigolactone  /  plant branching  /  branching hormone  /  receptor  /  perception