Hormones play crucial role in plant growth and development. A tight control of hormonal balance
is determining factor for many developmental processes in plants, and whether the organ will
grow or bend in response to environmental cues or new organ will emerge at certain position, is
often a consequence of local hormonal levels. Brassinosteroids (BRs) are group of steroidal
hormones that promote the plant growth in a concentration-dependent manner. BR synthesis and
signaling are described in details, but the spatial distribution of the hormonal levels remains
unknown. Also, it is not known how far these hormones can travel within the tissue and whether
the BRs synthesized in one cell can trigger the signaling in the neighboring ones. To answer this
questions, I will develop a microscopy based platform to monitor BR movement in live cells, using
both described and novel BR sensors. I will examine localization of BR biosynthetic genes in the
root to indirectly determine hormone levels and I will make use of fluorescently labeled hormone
to directly observe its movement in live cells.