Plants have their own unique ways of sensing the environment. This is crucial for their survival and can influence their development and physiology. Understanding this can help us produce more sustainable food for the future.
Plants are often overlooked and viewed passively. They are in fact impressive, complex organisms, taking all that nature throws at them – good and bad – while rooted to the spot.
The way they perceive the world around them is also a key factor. The subject of a fascinating blogPublished earlier this year, it explores how plants detect light, temperature and scents.
But how does this sense of smell lead to physiological changes in the body?
From the initial sensing of the environment – either abiotic (something physical, like temperature) or biotic (something living, like bacteria) – a cascade of signalling occurs inside a plant, which leads to changes at the genetic, and even epigenetic, level. Even the bits of DNA that you thought were junk are involved.
We will explain how this works by looking at two key aspects of a plant’s life cycle that are crucial for breeding better crops: nutrient intake and flowering.
The root cause of nutrient intake
Proteins are made up a lot nitrogen and plants will go to great measures (via sometimes sprawling root systems) to get it from the soil.
Some plants, such as beans and peas, go a step further – forming symbiotic relationships with bacteria that live in harmony with roots and harvest nitrogen from the air.
Dr Myriam and her team are fascinated at the process of how plants are created. Befriending the good and fighting the bad.
Charpentier, and coworkers, 2016 Uncovering an important proteinThe calcium channel is located in the nucleus membrane and is responsible for shutting off calcium from the nucleus when friendly bacteria are detected nearby.
The calcium-fixing bacteria can be triggered by the oscillations of calcium in the plants. Recent research by the group has shown that Calcium can also be released at the root tip by the nuclei of cellsItself (the apical meridtem).
Not only did the roots grow longer, but they also developed shorter roots when the calcium signatures were altered. This suggests that calcium may play a significant role in the root’s development.
Calcium signalling is universal
Calcium signals are common in plants and are extremely specific.
Calcium signalling can be thought of as a code that helps plants to distinguish friend from foe. It triggers primary defence mechanisms against pathogens and then reacts to all aspects in their environment.
The control that plants exercise over them – including the release of calcium by specific proteins in the nucleus as weve described here – is not only fascinating, but it can also help us understand how plants are able to fine-tune their physiology.
This might allow us to adjust plants so they produce more or grow faster in certain conditions.
Every year, more than 50,000,000 tonnes of nitrogen fertiliser is sprayed onto our crops. This causes soil and aquatic system pollution and loss of diversity. This cannot continue. Dr Charpentier states that we urgently need to reduce the adverse effects on ecosystems and ensure sustainable production of food.
Remember the long winter
Plants can also remember conditions, and are capable of reacting in the moment. Its absolutely key to one of lifes most wonderful spectacles – the blossoming of flowers in spring after a long, cold winter.
Why is it that some plants wait until winter to flower?
It is an important question. Professor Dame Caroline DeanVernalization is a process that allows for detailed answers by the group she and her colleagues.
There are many genes and molecular interaction that affect the timing of flowering. However, the wintry tale of vernalization is really one. FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC).
FLC It acts as a central repressor of flowering times, meaning it switches off flowering. In essence, when FLC When it is being actively transcribed, there are no flowers. We have the potential to bloom if it is not.
The coolest thing about this is that plants can remember winter thanks to subtle changes to the structure of their chromosome. FLC It can be found.
Epic epigenetics
Chromosomes – the x-shaped structures in which DNA is packaged in the nucleus – are scaffolded by proteins called histones, which the DNA wraps around to form a material known as chromatin.
Chromatin does more than just serve as a packaging material. It is dynamic, and it has an impact on gene expression.
Genes can be switched on and off when histones have a modified methyl group. This is because methyl adds histones to DNA, which bind it more tightly, and prevents the right proteins from accessing the DNA.
Vernalization is caused by prolonged cold. This triggers the production of special histone-tweaking enzymes that modify the packaging of histones. FLCIn several crucial positions, switching off can be dangerous. FLC gene. Short periods of cold do not have the same effect.
As springtime approaches, plants sense the days becoming longer, warmer, and these subtle epigenetic modifications mean that plants are primed to flower.
Even more fascinating is the fact that it comes from the DNA of the opposite strand. FLC The gene regulatory components are located in this strand. This strand creates a set of antisense transcriptions collectively known at COOLAIRThese help the protein complexes to find and bind their target.
COOLAIR, a long non-codingRNA, is also known as this. It doesn’t make proteins but has a significant effect on gene expression. Vernalization, one of the most important examples of long non-coding RNAs, is becoming more well-studied in many organisms.
Don’t believe any person who says your DNA is mostly junk.
More than a pretty bouquet
Flowers are more than the pretty face of the plant world. They are essential for the production of food, such as fruits and nuts, seeds, oil, and various vegetables.
Understanding phenomena like vernalization is crucial. It is important to understand when and how plants flower, even though vernalization happens in different ways for every plant.
Some people believe that a simple tweak can make it possible to harvest multiple harvests per year. Others may be more interested in understanding how subtle variations could affect harvest times.
Professor Dean and her team Recent researchThese small variations in DNA were found in and around FLCHistone modifications may influence how plants can tolerate winters with different lengths.
The group of Professor Richard Morris complements that nicely. Recently shownHow many versions of FLC in oilseed rape were responsible for how vernalization and flowering time differed between varieties adapted for different growth seasons – spring, summer and winter.
Professor Morris’ group uses mathematical and computational modeling to understand how plants react to their environment. The Dean group is also using these techniques. Innovative methods have been developed to predict flowering time..
Future success of our crops
As the climate continues its dramatic change, leaving Earth with ever more difficult conditions to live in, the information gained from mathematical modelling could prove to be extremely valuable in understanding how our crops are able to adapt.
We hope to be able breed crops that can withstand any climate change with the in-depth knowledge gained from studying the genetic and physiological changes in crops as they react.
