How environment and genomes interact in plant development
Date:
January 24, 2022
Source:
Iowa State University
Summary:
A new study could help to breed more resilient crops as well
as shed light on mechanisms that play a critical role in plant
growth. The study focuses on how phenotypic plasticity, or the way
a given trait can differ as a result of environmental conditions,
influences the growth of sorghum.
FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Iowa State University scientists have harnessed data analytics to look
"under the hood" of the mechanisms that determine how genetics and
changing environmental conditions interact during crucial developmental
stages of plants.
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A new study published in the academic scientific journal New Phytologist focuses on how changes in temperature affect the height of sorghum plants,
and the scientists who conducted the experiments said the research could
help to breed more resilient crops as well as shed light on mechanisms
that play a critical role in plant growth. The research revolves around
the concept of phenotypic plasticity, or how a given trait can differ
as a result of environmental conditions. For instance, a plant may grow
to a different height in a dry environment than a plant with identical
genetics that grows in a wet environment.
Understanding plasticity can help plant breeders design crop varieties
that will perform well under a range of environmental conditions, said
Jianming Yu, a professor of agronomy and the Pioneer Distinguished Chair
in Maize Breeding at Iowa State University and corresponding author of
the study. But looking only at the final mature traits of plants paints
an incomplete picture of plasticity. Instead, the new study examines the
growth rate of sorghum during a critical stage of development, between
40 and 53 days after planting. Zeroing in on that rapid-growth phase in
the plant's life cycle allowed the researchers to examine the mechanisms
that govern sorghum's phenotypic plasticity in greater detail.
"Looking at the developmental phase allows us to look under the hood to
see what causes the final mature traits," Yu said.
The researchers collected data on sorghum, a globally cultivated cereal
crop, grown in Iowa, Kansas and Puerto Rico over the span of multiple
years.
Measurements of plant height were taken at several points during the
growing season, creating a large dataset on which the researchers applied statistical regression analyses to better understand the relationship
between height and diurnal temperature change, or the difference in
temperature between nighttime lows and daytime highs.
They found increases in diurnal temperature change tended to produce
shorter plants. The trend was particularly distinct during that critical developmental phase around 40 to 53 days after planting.
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"We found that these genes actually interact with environmental stimuli
and control the maximum growth rate as well as time to reach maximum
growth rate," said Qi Mu, a postdoctoral research associate in agronomy
and the first author of the study. "And that eventually determines
the final plant height." Plasticity and climate change Climate change increases the urgency of understanding phenotypic plasticity, Yu said. As climate change causes more volatile swings in weather, farmers and plant breeders will require better tools for predicting how crop varieties
will perform under different environmental conditions. For instance, Yu
said climate change could cause nighttime temperatures to rise in some locations, which would have significant ramifications for cultivating
crops, as illustrated in the study.
Research into phenotypic plasticity will allow plant breeders to develop
more precise tools for predicting how crops will perform across a range
of environmental conditions, Mu said.
"With climate change, crops need to adapt to different climates
and environments," Mu said. "In order to breed crops that are more
adaptive we have to understand the mechanism of how they respond to environments. With that knowledge, we can design resilient crops that
thrive in future environments." The study's results emerged after
analyzing 3,500 phenotype records collected in four years, and further validated with 13,500 phenotype records in another four years, said
Xianran Li, a former adjunct associate professor of agronomy at Iowa
State and a co-corresponding author of the study.
"Thousands of weather and genetic fingerprint datapoints were mulled over
as well," said Li, now a research scientist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service.
Funding for the research came from the USDA National Institute of Food
and Agriculture, the ISU Raymond F. Baker Center for Plant Breeding
and the ISU Plant Sciences Institute. The research team also included
Tingting Guo, a research scientist in agronomy and a member of Yu's lab.
========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Iowa_State_University. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.
========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Qi Mu, Tingting Guo, Xianran Li, Jianming Yu. Phenotypic
plasticity in
plant height shaped by interaction between genetic loci and diurnal
temperature range. New Phytologist, 2021; 233 (4): 1768 DOI:
10.1111/ nph.17904 ==========================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220124151053.htm
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