Crops can be tuned to grow well without sacrificing toughness
Kang C, Zhang W, Peixoto B, Jarvis RP
Crop Improvement
The tomatoes and corn you rely on for dinner could soon need less fertilizer while shrugging off drought and pests, thanks to a cellular recycling system scientists just learned to fine-tune.
Every plant cell has a cleanup crew that tags old or damaged proteins with a molecule called ubiquitin, marking them for recycling. Researchers discovered that this same tagging system helps rice and maize decide how to divide their energy between growing and defending themselves when nutrients are scarce. By adjusting this system, they broke the usual rule that a plant fed less has to grow slower or become weaker, opening a new path to crops that handle poor soil and stress at the same time.
Key Findings
Ubiquitin-dependent protein degradation pathways link nutrient sensing with stress response signaling in rice and maize
Modifying these proteostatic systems uncoupled the typical trade-off between nutrient efficiency and stress resilience
Findings suggest new breeding strategies for crops that are both nutrient-efficient and stress-resilient without sacrificing growth
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists found that tweaking how rice and maize plants tag and recycle proteins can break the usual trade-off between growth and stress resilience under changing nutrient conditions. This means breeders may soon be able to develop crops that thrive on less fertilizer without sacrificing yield or toughness.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Ubiquitin signalling redefines nutrient trade-offs in crops.
Changing nutrient availability is associated with growth trade-offs in crops. Recent studies in rice and maize reveal that such constraints can be uncoupled by modifying ubiquitin-dependent proteos...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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