A buckwheat peptide helps plants grow with less nitrogen fertilizer
Plant Signaling
If you've ever over-fertilized a garden bed and watched runoff wash nutrients away, this points toward crops engineered to do more with less, cutting both fertilizer costs and water pollution.
Plants make tiny protein signals called peptides that tell different parts of the plant how to grow and respond to nutrients. Researchers found one of these signals, called FtCLE7, in Tartary buckwheat and discovered that spraying it on plants makes them grow bigger and soak up more nitrogen from the soil, even changing the helpful microbes living around their roots. When they put the same gene into tobacco plants, it had the same growth-boosting, nitrogen-grabbing effect, suggesting this peptide could someday help farmers grow food with less fertilizer.
Key Findings
16 FtCLE genes were identified in Tartary buckwheat, all containing conserved bioactive CLE peptide sequences
FtCLE7 is root-specific and induced by high nitrogen; applying the synthetic peptide externally increased plant growth, nitrogen accumulation, and altered rhizosphere microbial communities
Overexpressing FtCLE7 in tobacco confirmed its role in promoting growth and nitrogen accumulation, and transcriptome analysis linked it to hormone signaling, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, and receptor-like kinase pathways
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists found a natural signaling peptide in Tartary buckwheat that boosts plant growth and helps it absorb more nitrogen, which could lead to crops that need less fertilizer.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Identification and Functional Analysis of the CLAVATA3/embryo Surrounding Region-Related ( CLE ) Gene Family in Tartary Buckwheat Suggests the Promoting Effect of FtCLE7 on Growth and Nitrogen Accumulation
Abstract Low nitrogen use efficiency caused by irrational nitrogen fertilization restricts Tartary buckwheat (TB) yield improvement. CLE peptides are key signaling molecules regulating plant nitrog...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Species Mentioned
Was this useful?
Want to tell us more? (optional)
Thanks for the note!
Something went wrong — please try again.
Too many submissions. Try again in an hour.
Targeted knockout of a host peroxisomal peptidase confers field resistance to...
The corn in your grocery store and the staple food keeping millions of East African families fed is under serious threat from a viral disease that can wipe o...
Fagopyrum tataricum, also known as Tartary buckwheat, green buckwheat, ku qiao, Tatar buckwheat, or bitter buckwheat, is a domesticated food plant in the genus Fagopyrum in the family Polygonaceae. With another species in the same genus, common buckwheat, it is often counted as a cereal, but the ...