Researchers Discover Novel Anti-Stress Molecule in Plants

For the first time, a team led by researchers from the University of East Anglia (UEA) has identified the genes that help plants grow under stressful conditions, with implications for producing more sustainable food crops in the face of global climate change.

The study, published in Nature Communications, reveals the genes that enable plants to make a novel anti-stress molecule called dimethylsulfoniopropionate, or DMSP. According to the findings, most plants make DMSP, and high-level DMSP production allows plants to grow at the coast, for example in salty conditions. The study also shows that plants can be grown under other stressful conditions, such as drought when they are supplemented with DMSP, or when plants are created to make their own DMSP. Such an approach may be of particular benefit in nitrogen-poor soils to improve agricultural productivity.

This study is the first to describe the genes that plants use to produce DMSP, identify why plants make this molecule, and discover that DMSP can be used to improve the stress tolerance of plants. The researchers studied Spartina anglica, a species of saltmarsh cordgrass that produces high levels of DMSP, and compared its genes with those from other plants that produce the molecule. They were also able to identify three enzymes involved in the high-level production of DMSP in S. anglica.

For more details, read the article in UEA News.