Increased Crop Yields Could Result From Plant Hormone Breakthrough HEAD TOPICS
Increased Crop Yields Could Result From Plant Hormone Breakthrough
10/22/2022 12:38:00 AM Increased Crop Yields Could Result From Plant Hormone Breakthrough
Source SciTechDaily
Increased Crop Yields Could Result From Plant Hormone Breakthrough Crops often grow under unfavorable conditions. Factors such as disease, extreme temperatures, and salty soils force plants to use energy to respond to the resulting stress instead of using it to fuel growth. This is known as the “growth-stress response trade-off.' Now, a group of scientists has d October 21, 2022PSY receptor mutant (right) and wild type (left). PSY receptor mutant is less stress tolerant, but its growth is facilitated. Credit: Dr. Yoshikatsu MatsubayashiCrops often grow under unfavorable conditions. Factors such as disease, extreme temperatures, and salty soils force plants to use energy to respond to the resulting stress instead of using it to fuel growth. This is known as the “growth-stress response trade-off.” Now, a group of scientists has discovered a previously unknown pathway that regulates whether a plant uses its resources for growth or stress tolerance. This discovery could enable the stress response to be controlled under agricultural conditions, increasing crop yields. The researchers, from Read more:
SciTechDaily » Rep. Ruben Gallego introduces bill to protect water resources through excise tax As seas rise, Bangladesh farmers revive floating farms Bangladesh farmers revive floating farms, as seas rise Months after floods, Brazil's Amazon faces a severe drought Get to know Cindy Hsu
We're getting to know our very own Cindy Hsu a little better with a series of rapid-fire questions. Read more >> Rep. Ruben Gallego introduces bill to protect water resources through excise taxThe Domestic Water Protection Act of 2022, originally co-sponsored by Rep. Raul Grijalva, “would impose an excise tax on the sale and export of water-intensive crops...' How about taking control of the water resources we have and are selling off to other countries No These People had decades to prepare for this water fiasco... NOW they've turned it into Politics... As seas rise, Bangladesh farmers revive floating farmsMohammad Mostafa, a farmer in the low-lying deltas of southwestern Bangladesh, has revived his forefathers' farming practice of growing crops on floating rafts as rising seas and storm flooding threaten more and more farmland. Look at us figuring it out. It’s like we’ve adapted once or twice before in our history. Reuters Reminder to self. There’s always a way. Bangladesh farmers revive floating farms, as seas riseMohammad Mostafa, a farmer in the low-lying deltas of southwestern Bangladesh, has revived his forefathers' farming practice of growing crops on floating rafts as rising seas and storm flooding threaten more and more farmland. Months after floods, Brazil's Amazon faces a severe droughtTEFE, Brazil (AP) — Just months after enduring floods that destroyed crops and submerged entire communities, thousands of families in the Brazilian Amazon are now dealing with severe drought that, at least in some areas, is the worst in decades. Damn you global warming! If only we had a gigantic carbon sink in the middle of a large, South American country that could absorb huge amounts of CO2 and constantly replenish the atmospheric oxygen. Would it help slow climate change? Where could we find such a thing? Sharks are the preferred scraping surface for large pelagic fishes: Possible implications for parasite removal and fitness in a changing oceanMutualistic and commensal interactions can have significant positive impacts on animal fitness and survival. However, behavioural interactions between pelagic animals living in offshore oceanic environments are little studied. Parasites can negatively effect the fitness of their hosts by draining resources and diverting energy from growth, reproduction, and other bodily functions. Pelagic fishes are hosts to a diverse array of parasites, however their environment provides few options for removal. Here we provide records of scraping behaviour of several pelagic teleost species, a behaviour that is likely used for parasite removal. These records span three ocean basins and, to the best of our knowledge, include the first records of scraping interactions involving tunas, blue sharks, and mako sharks as well as the first records of intraspecific scraping. We found that scrapers preferred scraping their head, eyes, gill cover, and lateral surfaces, areas where parasites are commonly found and where damage would likely have a substantial impact on fitness. Scraper species varied in their scraping preferences with tunas scraping mostly on the posterior caudal margins of sharks and occasionally conspecifics, while rainbow runner scraped in more varied locations on both sharks and conspecifics. Lengths of scrapers and scrapees were positively correlated and fish scraping on sharks were larger than those scraping on conspecifics, suggesting that risk of predation may be a limiting factor. We show that pelagic teleosts prefer to scrape on sharks rather than conspecifics or other teleosts and suggest that this behaviour may have a positive impact on teleost fitness by reducing parasite loads. The decline of shark populations in the global ocean and the reduction in mean size of many species may limit these interactions, eroding possible fitness benefits associated with this behaviour, and consequently placing more pressure on already highly targeted and vulnerable species. ConversationEDU PLOSONE Why are they keeping this a secret ConversationEDU PLOSONE Why dont they want us to know this Cooler temperatures result in plant growth, vegetable productionThe cooler temperatures have caused plant growth and vegetable production, but keep an... Nagoya University October 21, 2022 PSY receptor mutant (right) and wild type (left).PHOENIX — Arizona Representative Ruben Gallego has introduced a bill to crack down on water resources.With prolonged waterlogging posing an increasing threat to families growing their own food, more have turned to using the rafts as secure platforms to grow vegetables and fruit including cucumbers, radishes, bitter gourds, papayas and tomatoes.Ruma Paul Filed: October 19, 2022, 11 p. PSY receptor mutant is less stress tolerant, but its growth is facilitated. Credit: Dr. Raul Grijalva, “would impose an excise tax on the sale and export of water-intensive crops grown by foreign companies or foreign governments in areas experiencing prolonged drought. Yoshikatsu Matsubayashi Crops often grow under unfavorable conditions. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters. Factors such as disease, extreme temperatures, and salty soils force plants to use energy to respond to the resulting stress instead of using it to fuel growth. In previous coverage, Mohave County Supervisor Travis Lingenfelter said farming operations from as close as California and as far as Saudi Arabia moved into Mohave County, sometimes seemingly popping up out of nowhere. This is known as the “growth-stress response trade-off. The rafts, woven from the stems of invasive hyacinths, are providing a lifeline for families during the increasingly extreme monsoon seasons, when dry land can be especially scarce. ” Now, a group of scientists has discovered a previously unknown pathway that regulates whether a plant uses its resources for growth or stress tolerance. "We have not been able to get a hearing at the legislature for the last several years. "These days, the land is under water for a longer time. This discovery could enable the stress response to be controlled under agricultural conditions, increasing crop yields. The researchers, from Nagoya University in Japan, published the findings on October 13 in the journal Science .. A research team investigated the role of hormones and their receptors in the plant stress response. But the work is not that easy. They focused on three receptors for which the corresponding hormone had not yet been identified. “These days, the land is under water for a longer time. Using a small flowering plant known as thale cress ( Arabidopsis thaliana ), they discovered the PSY family, which functions as a hormone, binding to these receptors and mediating the switch between the stress response and growth. The study was led by Professor Yoshikatsu Matsubayashi and Assistant Professor Mari Ohnishi of the Graduate School of Science at Nagoya University in Japan." (To see photoessay, please click on https://reut. After investigating the pathway involved, the researchers made a surprising discovery. Usually, receptors and hormones function like locks and keys, with the hormone (in this case, a peptide PSY hormone) acting as a key that is necessary to start a biological process. However, in this study, plant cells that did not produce PSY nevertheless exhibited an active stress response. Floating farms now cover a total 157 hectares (388 acres) in Pirojpur district, with 120 hectares in Nazirpur that expanded from 80 hectares five years ago. “I tried my luck at floating farming five years ago and that made a great difference to my life. Therefore, this indicates that instead of activating the stress response, the presence of the PSY ‘key’ in the receptor ‘lock’ keeps it switched off. To test the nature of stress responses, the scientists grew plants under extremely stressful conditions. This included using heat and salt, and even infecting the plants with bacteria.. Plants that were either deficient in PSY receptors or were continuously fed the hormone PSY failed to respond adequately to stress, resulting in reduced survival. The scientists concluded that stressed plants stop releasing PSY, the absence of which induces stress response genes. “It requires less space than conventional farming and does not need pesticides,” Hazra told Reuters. To explain this phenomenon, the investigators postulated a mechanism in which damaged cells reduce the concentration of PSY hormones in the cell layers next to the damaged sites." Low-lying Bangladesh is considered among the most climate-vulnerable countries, with the impact of rising waters compounded by storms, floods and erosion. This lack of PSY triggers the stress response. Importantly, this may explain why even damaged plants can send messages. Rather than using their limited resources to create a new signal, an impaired plant cell may instead stop the release of the PSY hormone, activating the stress response. Bangladesh could lose more than a tenth of its land to sea level rise in two decades, with climate change bringing more extreme heat and rainfall, flooding, erosion and saltwater surges in low-lying southern and southwestern delta, criss-crossed by hundreds of rivers. Such a mechanism would balance stress tolerance with associated energy costs.” A man holds a rope as people transport floating beds towards a farm through Belua river, August 18, 2022. As a consequence, plants can still grow by managing their limited resources even under the most stressful environmental conditions. “Most of the mechanisms found in Arabidopsis are found in other plants. I still can remember I used to play football in the land that now goes under the water during the normal tide,? Ibrahim said. Therefore, our results apply to all crops,” explained Matsubayashi. “This mechanism makes it possible to artificially control the balance between stress tolerance and yield, which is a trade-off relationship. In recent years, an increasing number of crop plants have been grown in plant factories.. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain Farmers sell vegetables, fruits and seedlings to middlemen at a bi-weekly floating market on the Belua river in Pirojpur, August 16, 2022. When crops are grown indoors, it is a low-stress environment and the stress response system that is needed to withstand the fluctuating natural outdoor environment is not always necessary. Generating cultivars with reduced PSY receptor activity in plant factories may lead to higher yields in these controlled environments.” Reference: “Peptide ligand-mediated trade-off between plant growth and stress response” by Mari Ogawa-Ohnishi, Tomohide Yamashita, Mitsuru Kakita, Takuya Nakayama, Yuri Ohkubo, Yoko Hayashi, Yasuko Yamashita, Taizo Nomura, Saki Noda, Hidefumi Shinohara and Yoshikatsu Matsubayashi, 13 October 2022, Science . Bangladesh is also frequently hit by cyclones that barrel up the Bay of Bengal, while global warming makes rainfall patterns increasingly erratic.