Climate change results in increases in average temperatures. This negatively affects the productivity of crops. To handle the heat, plants use plant hormones to grow larger. In doing so, they develop a larger surface area that they can use to cool down. But it is not yet clear which of these plant hormones contribute and how they do so.
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Climate change results in increases in average temperatures. This negatively affects the productivity of crops. To handle the heat, plants use plant hormones to grow larger. In doing so, they develop a larger surface area that they can use to cool down. But it is not yet clear which of these plant hormones contribute and how they do so.
One specific plant hormone, jasmonic acid, plays a vital role in various stress responses, including wound response, cold, and heat stress. Does it also play a role in the heat-induced growth of plants?
Ive De Smet - Tingting Zhu - Alain Goossens
(VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology)
Prof. Ive De Smet (VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology) and his team set themselves to the task of finding an answer to that question. PhD student Tingting Zhu, first author of the study, says:
"Our starting point was previously published data on the proteins affected in wheat seedlings exposed to high temperatures. To explore if jasmonate signaling indeed plays a role in the growth in response to warmer temperatures, we used both Arabidopsis and wheat as model plants."
Gene expression
By investigating the gene expression in Arabidopsis seedlings under different temperature conditions, the researchers show that this leads to an increased expression of the genes JOXs and ST2a. These genes control the breakdown of jasmonic acid, which normally stops growth. As the temperature rises, so does the activity of these two genes. In turn, this lowers the level of jasmonic acid, and lower jasmonic acid means more growth.
Finally, the scientists analyzed the growth under warm temperatures in wheat, a staple crop. They found the same mechanism at work.
Ive De Smet frames their finding: "A broader understanding of the conserved role of jasmonate signalling when plants are exposed to low or high temperatures contributes to ensuring food security under a changing climate, which the recent IPCC report highlights again as major challenge for humanity."
Publication
Funding
T.Z. is supported by a grant from the Chinese Scholarship Council, I.F. acknowledges funding through the German Research Foundation (DFG, INST 186/822-1) and A.G acknowledges funding from the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO G008417N).
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