Researchers Find Way to Improve Plant Defenses without Negative Impact on Growth

A research team from the University of Georgia (UGA) has found a way to increase salicylic acid in poplars without negative impacts on the trees' growth. Salicylic acid protects plants from extreme temperatures and diseases, but increasing this naturally occurring chemical typically results in stunted plant growth.

Led by UGA Professor Chung-Jui Tsai, the team first developed a new strategy to increase the salicylic acid levels by testing a bi-functional bacterial gene in poplar. They then used transcriptomics (gene expression), metabolomics (unbiased analysis of metabolites), and computational data analysis pipelines - to analyze their results. They found many metabolites and genes previously associated with salicylic acid regulation and then discovered many more that have never been identified prior to this study.

Unlike their methods, Tsai said that "previous attempts to increase the levels of salicylic acid often had unwanted side effects."

More details about this research are available at: http://news.uga.edu/releases/article/researchers-improve-plant-defenses-without-negatively-impacting-growth/.