Recent advances in technology have allowed scientists to probe the molecular nature of life, analyzing thousands of genes at a time and recognizing patterns of gene interaction. In a recent paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, complexity scientist Samuel Scarpino and co-authors explore gene co-expression networks that have evolved to help plants withstand drought and cold.
Recent advances in technology have allowed scientists to probe the molecular nature of life, analyzing thousands of genes at a time and recognizing patterns of gene interaction. In a recent paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, complexity scientist Samuel Scarpino and co-authors explore gene co-expression networks that have evolved to help plants withstand drought and cold.
While researchers have been uncovering one distinctive gene co-expression network after another in recent years, “Most people have stopped there and thrown their hands up,” says Scarpino, a former Santa Fe Institute Omidyar Fellow and current professor at the University of Vermont.
Understanding interactions between different gene networks, which are evolved to respond to different stressors, and understanding natural variation in these responses could have important agricultural applications in challenging environments.
This study focused on the small, flowering plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, which is part of the Brassicaceae ⁄ Cruciferae family along with cabbage and broccoli. The authors identified two unique gene expression networks — one adapted to cold and one to drought.
Read more at Santa Fe Institute
Photo Credit: Michael Pereckas via Wikimedia Commons
