Plants — they’re just like us, with unique techniques for handling stress, writes Jules Bernstein at UC Riverside. To save one of the most important crops on Earth from extreme climate swings, scientists are mapping out plants’ own stress-busting strategies.
A UC Riverside-led team has learned what happens to the roots of rice plants when they’re confronted with two types of stressful scenarios: too much water, or too little. These observations form the basis of new protective strategies.
“This one crop is the major source of calories for upwards of 45 percent of humanity, but its harvests are in danger,” said Julia Bailey-Serres, UCR geneticist and study lead. “In the U.S., floods rival droughts in terms of damage to farmers’ crops each year.”
While it is possible for rice to flourish in flooded soils, the plants yield less food or even die if the water is too deep for too long. This work simulated prolonged floods of five days or longer, in which plants were completely submerged. It also simulated drought conditions.
In particular, the researchers examined the roots’ response to both types of conditions, because roots are the unseen first responders to flood and drought-related stress.
Their work is described in a new paper published in the journal Developmental Cell.
One key finding is about a cork-like substance, suberin, that’s produced by rice roots in response to stress. It helps protect from floods as well as from drought.