Fenoxycarb, a carbamate insect growth regulator, inhibits brassinosteroid action

Brassinosteroids (BRs) are steroid hormones that regulate plant growth, development, and stress resis-tance. In this study, we evaluated the effect of agrochemicals on dark-induced hypocotyl elongation, which is regulated by BRs, to identify novel chemicals that regulate BR action. We found that the juvenile hor-mone agonist fenoxycarb inhibited dark-induced hypocotyl elongation in Arabidopsis. Treatment with the same class of juvenile hormone agonist, pyriproxyfen, did not affect hypocotyl elongation. Co-treatment with fenoxycarb and BR partly canceled the fenoxycarb-induced hypocotyl suppression. In addition, gene expression analysis revealed that fenoxycarb altered the BR-responsive gene expression. These results indicate that fenoxycarb is a BR action inhibitor.