• How environment and genomes interact in

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Mon Jan 24 21:30:38 2022
    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.


    ==========================================================================
    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.



    ==========================================================================
    "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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