Plants do not wait hours to respond to intense sunlight—they react within minutes.
Plants do not wait hours to respond to intense sunlight—they react within minutes. Researchers at Bielefeld University and the Australian National University have discovered a new signaling pathway that enables plants to directly adjust their protein production before genes in the cell nucleus change their activity. The findings open new perspectives for climate-resilient crops.
Plants may appear unresponsive. Yet when their environment changes, they respond within seconds. Sudden exposure to intense light is particularly challenging. It can disrupt photosynthesis and damage cells. A study to be published in the journal Molecular Plant now shows how rapidly and precisely plants respond.
“We were able to demonstrate that plants reprogram their protein production within minutes—well before gene activity in the cell nucleus changes,” says first author Dr. Marten Moore. He began his research at Bielefeld University and later continued it at the Australian National University in Canberra. “This means we have identified an additional, very rapid regulatory layer.”
Read More: Universitat Bielefeld
