Pyrabactin is a synthetic

sulfonamide In organic chemistry, the sulfonamide functional group (also spelled sulphonamide) is an organosulfur group with the structure . It consists of a sulfonyl group () connected to an amine group (). Relatively speaking this group is unreactive. ...

that mimics

abscisic acid Abscisic acid (ABA) is a plant hormone. ABA functions in many plant developmental processes, including seed and bud dormancy, the control of organ size and stomatal closure. It is especially important for plants in the response to environmental s ...

(ABA), a naturally produced stress

hormone A hormone (from the Greek participle , "setting in motion") is a class of signaling molecules in multicellular organisms that are sent to distant organs by complex biological processes to regulate physiology and behavior. Hormones are required ...

in plants that helps them cope with drought conditions by inhibiting growth. ABA can be manufactured for agricultural use; however, ABA is light-sensitive and costly to make. Pyrabactin is relatively inexpensive, easy to make, and not sensitive to light. Unlike ABA, pyrabactin activates only a few of the 14 ABA receptors in the plant needed for effective drought tolerance. Its role as an ABA mimic may make pyrabactin an important tool for protecting crops against drought and cold weather. The discovery of pyrabactin by Sean Cutler was named a breakthrough research of 2009 by ''Science'' magazine.Growing drought-tolerant crops inching forward (Science Blog)
/ref> Pyrabactin (for pyridyl containing ABA activator) is a naphthalene sulfonamide hypocotyl cell expansion inhibitor. A combination of genetic, transcriptomic and physiological evidence demonstrated that pyrabactin activates the ABA pathway in a manner very similar to ABA. As such, pyrabactin is the first ABA agonist that is not an ABA analog and may ultimately lead to the development of a new family of synthetic plant growth regulators.

References

{{reflist Plant hormones Sulfonamides