Plants Have It Made in the Shade
Posted on: Thursday, 26 June 2003, 06:00 CDT
Finding how they adjust to lack of light should improve crop yields, study says
HealthDayNews -- A molecular pathway that plants use to adjust their growth and flowering in shady conditions has been identified by researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
The finding of this pathway could eventually help scientists increase crop yields by inserting a gene that helps crowded crop plants flourish in shade cast by nearby plants. The research appears in a recent issue of Nature.
In many situations, the biggest obstacle to successful growth faced by a plant comes from other plants competing with it for sunlight.
"Shade-avoidance syndrome is a series of developmental changes that the plant makes when it perceives that it's being shaded and, therefore, not getting enough photosynthetically effective light to thrive," researcher Joanne Chory says in a news release.
When a plant senses that kind of situation, it elongates its stem and restricts leaf development.
"And then, if the plant is not successful, it produces what might be called a 'desperation flower,' and goes on to make only a few seeds that will ensure the survival of at least some offspring," Chory says.
Identifying that shade-avoidance pathway could prove significant in agriculture.
"Crops are planted at such a high density that plants in a field are always shading each other, and probably every plant in that field is triggering at least a partial shade-avoidance response. It's causing a depletion of biomass, which is what we eat if we're eating the plant itself. And because of the premature flowering, it can significantly impact yield, if it's the seeds or grain that's harvested," Chory says.
By altering components of the shade-avoidance pathway, plant breeders might be able to increase crop yield.
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