Maize Plant Genetics Shape Root Health and Growth

Rodielon Putol, an Earth.com staff writer, writes that maize genetics plays an important role in determining the health and efficiency of plant roots. There is a connection between the genetic makeup of maize plants and the composition of microorganisms surrounding their roots. The roots are an important for of plants because they are their lifelines. Roots anchor an enable nutrient & water absorption. They also have a tiny microbial layer that is vital for plant health. The microorganisms are crucial for the health and fitness of plants. This research takes a Segway from the original belief that only soil influences the root microbiome. It shoes that maize genetics are equally important in determining which microorganisms surround the roots. 

Since maize has been cultivated through selective breeding in diverse climates over centuries, researchers decided they would harness its genetic diversity. Specific genes were studied to see how the plant interacts with bacteria which could enhance the plant’s resilience to environmental challenges. Massilia bacteria was found around maize roots that helped improve nutrient and water absorption. We can use the findings in this study to breed maize to be more resilient when it comes to droughts and food shortages. This plant is known to be a big food sources for the locals and it would be greatly beneficial to genetically modify them be resilient to certain bacteria. We can develop tougher maize varieties which can also lead to significant advancements towards sustainable agriculture. I’m glad that we are finding ways of making maize plants last longer in their life spans as it will help feed a lot of people who depend on it as their food source. 

Main Article: https://www.earth.com/news/maize-plant-genetics-shape-root-health-and-growth/

2nd link: https://www.nature.com/articles/35098524 

How do Plants Respond to Drought? The answer is on the Molecular Level

How can you tell that a plant needs water? The answer to this question goes to down to the molecular level. The answer can also help agriculture adapt to drought and the climate related stressors.

Studies have shown that plants cope with environmental hardship by employing proteins that act as conductors to keep their responses to stress manageable. The results from this study can help enhance water use in plants when in a drought.

Plants have key hormones that allow them to cope with environmental stressors. One of these hormones is abscisic acid (ABA). ABA aids in seed development and water optimization and it is released when water is scarce or salinity is high. What happens after this hormone is released?

Salk Institue conducted a study in which they tracked the plants genetic activity in response to ABA and a handful of master proteins were identified. These proteins dictated how a plant responds t environmental stressors including drought. The team conducting the study also mapped the location where the proteins bind to DNA. This helped the team define keep factors the coordinate gene expression , which can allow the plants to have an efficient response to changing climate conditions.

The Salk team put the focus of the study toward proteins that respond to ABA. Three day-old seedings of the plant Arabidopsis Thaliana were exposed to ABA and their gene expressions were check regularly for 60 hours. During the study, the team places 33,602 genes into 122 datasets. The data proved that gene expression has a hierarchy of control. Some regulatory proteins contribute the most to gene expression. Also, snapshots of protein binding patterns at a particular time can explain more about gene expression then a wide range of times.

Both of these dynamics can explain that plants responses to environmental triggers is from coordinated genomes.

The biggest struggle of being a plant is coping with environmental stressors. I never would have thought that plants had proteins already inside of them to be able to tolerate harsh conditions. It's important to learn as much as we can about the genetics of plants because these discoveries can assist in plants having the ability to prosper, which can then lead to more people being fed. This study could be the first in a long line of agricultural breakthroughs which will eventually help a lot of people.

Pineapple genome offers insight into drought-tolerant plants

 

The production of pineapples began in 

southwest Brazil and northeast Paraguay. Pineapples have been cultivated by humans for more than six-thousand years and are now produced in more than eighty-five countries. In a recent study, scientists are homing in on the genes and the genetic pathways which allow the pineapple plant to prosper in environments that are water-limited by sequencing the juicy plant’s genome. Similar to many plants, the ancestors of pineapple and grasses experienced several doublings of their genomes. Although, the analysis shows that unlike the grasses that share an ancestor with pineapple, the pineapple genome has one-less whole genome duplication. This information indicated that pineapple plant is the best comparison group for the study of cereal crop genomes. Overall, the findings provided evidence of two-whole genome duplications in the pineapple plant’s history and a new opening on the evolutionary history of grasses. 

A majority of crop plants make use of a type of photosynthesis called C3. The juicy pineapple plant uses a special type of photosynthesis, called crassulacean acid metabolism, also known as CAM. CAM has evolved in more than ten-thousand plant species independently and the pineapple plant is valued the most economically out of all ten-thousand. Biology professor Ray Ming states “CAM plants use only 20 percent of the water used by typical C3 crop plants, and CAM plants can grow in dry, marginal lands that are unsuited for most crop plants.” By looking more closely at the pineapple genome, it was revealed that some genes which contribute to CAM photosynthesis are actually regulated by the plants circadian clock genes. Circadian clock genes allow plants to distinguish between day and night and alter their metabolism as a result. 

This study allowed scientists to find a link among regulatory elements of CAM photosynthesis genes and the circadian clock regulation for the first time. “CAM photosynthesis allows plants to close the pores in their leaves during the day and open them at night,” states Professor Ming, illustrating how that contributes to the pineapple plant’s resilience in hot climates and that the plant loses very little moisture through its leaves during the course of the day. CAM plants greatly reduce water loss by keeping their stomata closed during the day.

The team involved in this study wrote “All plants contain the necessary genes for CAM photosynthesis and the evolution of CAM simply required rerouting of pre-existing pathways.” The team is responsible for the discovering in which CAM photosynthesis evolved by reconfiguring molecular pathways involved in C3 and CAM photosynthesis. 

Having many farmers within the family and understanding how devastating a drought can be for the crops and overall production for that year, this article was attention-grabbing. The scientists now look to use their understanding of the evolution of the different types of photosynthesis in effort to develop drought-tolerant crops. “Higher water-use efficiency is a highly desirable trait, given the need to double food production by 2050 in the context of a changing climate,” stated Ray Ming. Furthermore, the adaptation of food crops to be more tolerant of a drought will also help humans become accustomed to climate change. 

Original Article