Cultures designed to stay green longer could produce more food for the growing world population

A team of scientists from Clemson University has achieved a breakthrough in the genetics of cereal crop senescence, with the potential to significantly influence the future of food security at the time of the world. climate change.

Collaborative research, which explores the genetic architecture of the poorly understood process of corn (corn) senescence and other cereal crops, has been published in The Plant Cell …. Rajan Sekhon, Plant Geneticist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Genetics and Biochemistry at the College of Science, is the lead author and corresponding author of the article ….

"Senescence means" the death of a cell or organ in the hands of the very organisms of which it is part, "Sekhon said," It happens everywhere, even in animals. When the weather changes in autumn, we have these beautiful autumn colors in the trees.In early autumn, when plants realize that they can not keep the leaves, they kill them.Everything is about saving energy. "

As a result, the leaves die after their color. The energy recovered in the leaves is stored in the trunk or the roots of the plant and is used to quickly reproduce the leaves the following spring. This makes perfect sense for trees. But the story is quite different for some other edible plants, especially cereal crops such as corn, rice and wheat.

"These crops are maintained with great care and bring an excess of nutrients in the form of fertilizer by farmers," Sekhon said. "Instead of dying prematurely, leaves can continue to produce food through photosynthesis. Understanding the triggers of senescence of crops such as corn means that scientists can modify the plant to benefit a hungry world. "

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"If we can slow down the senescence, it can allow the plant to stay green – or not to age – for a longer period," Sekhon said. "Plant breeders have selected plants with late senescence, without really understanding how senescence works at the molecular level."

These plants, called "stay-green", bear their name. They stay green longer, produce better yields and are more resilient to the environmental factors that stress plants, including drought and heat.

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"One of the most remarkable discoveries has been that sugars seem to dictate senescence," Sekhon said. "When sugars are not far from the leaves where they are made via photosynthesis, these sugar molecules begin to send signals to initiate senescence."

However, not all forms of sugar present in plants can be reported. One of the genes discovered by Sekhon and colleagues in this study appears to break the complex sugars of leaf cells into smaller sugar molecules – six-carbon sugars like glucose and fructose – capable of relaying the senescence signals.

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The genes identified in this study probably perform the same function in other cereal crops, such as rice, wheat and sorghum. Sekhon said the next step was to examine the function of these genes with the help of mutants and transgenics.

"The ultimate goal is to help the planet and feed the growing world. With the increasingly difficult climate, shrinking land and water resources and population growth, food security is humanity's greatest challenge, "said Sekhon.

Read the full original article: Genetic breakthrough in cereal crops could help improve yields around the world