Taiwan team finds way of boosting plant growth

2015/08/17

A research team from Taipei City-based Academia Sinica recently discovered a special protein capable of enhancing plant growth during drought.

Led by Paul Verslues, associate research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, the team showed that AFL1—a novel type of plant protein in Arabidopsis thaliana—promotes continuous growth in a water-scarce environment.

The team’s paper was published Aug. 3 on the website of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.

According to Verslues, drought represents a serious threat to food crops globally. “While agricultural experts and scientists are searching for new ways to increase production using less water, these efforts are hampered by a lack of knowledge in how plant cells respond to dry conditions,” he said.

“We now understand that drought stress sensing and first responses occur in the cell plasma membrane. But there is still a great deal to learn when it comes to plant proteins.”

The team’s research also shows that transgenic plants overexpressing AFL1 maintained greater growth under drought stress and contained higher levels of the stress-protective compound proline.

“Further experiments revealed that AFL1 interacts with other proteins that suppress growth during stress, suggesting that it also plays a role in how plant cells adjust to different conditions by selectively removing parts of the membrane and embedded proteins,” Verslues said.

“We are excited at the prospect of pursuing further study using the excellent facilities and support available at the institute as it opens up new horizons in plant stress research.”

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=233819&ctNode=413)