Thursday, 27 February 2025
A new study has identified a genetic circuit in plants that controls individual leaf growth and allows the plants to adapt to their environment. The findings could help the development of more drought-resistant crops.
Scientists from the University of Nottingham’s School of Biosciences investigated the growth of maize leaves in plants cultivated in three different soils containing differential amounts of nutrients and water. They found that microbes colonising plant leaves across these soils influence the growth of the leaves independently of the concentration of nutrients and soil properties. The findings have been published today in Cell, Host and Microbe.
The leaf is one of the most important organs of a plant, they produce food for the plant through photosynthesis. Plant leaves are colonised by microbes that are vital for the survival and health of the plants, particularly in dry weather conditions. The complex microbiota help the plant to ‘digest’ the nutrients it needs.
In nature, plant leaves are colonised by microbes. Whether and how these microbial communities modulate the growth of leaves is something poorly understood. We have now revealed more about this process through experiments of recolonization with synthetic communities of microbes. We demonstrated that abundant bacteria inhabiting young leaves promote individual leaf growth.
By analysing and sequencing the RNA molecules in the leaf the team uncovered a genetic circuit related to plant defence that controls microbiota effect on individual leaf growth.
Dr Castrillo continues: “We consider that the mechanism discovered here is responsible for balancing the growth of different leaves through differential activation of the growth-defense trade-off. We predict that this mechanism intersects with other branches of the leaf growth regulatory network to establish a hierarchy of biotic or abiotic stress responses to ensure plant survival in nature where the present of multiple stresses is frequent.
We envision that it might now be possible to optimise endogenous growth and defence trade-off mechanisms in crops such as maize via engineering leaf microbiota to increase plant growth in poor soils without compromising the plant’s defence against pathogens.
Story credits
More information is available from Dr Gabriel Castrillo on Gabriel.Castrillo@nottingham.ac.uk
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About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 24 in Europe and 15th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
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We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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