{"id":50215,"date":"2024-07-18T08:25:16","date_gmt":"2024-07-18T15:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/?post_type=disclosure&#038;p=50215"},"modified":"2024-07-18T15:25:28","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T22:25:28","slug":"study-reveals-key-gene-protecting-plants-from-harmful-metals-in-soil","status":"publish","type":"disclosure","link":"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/es\/news-release\/study-reveals-key-gene-protecting-plants-from-harmful-metals-in-soil\/","title":{"rendered":"Study reveals key gene protecting plants from harmful metals in soil"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>LA JOLLA\u2014The negative impact of human activity on Earth doesn\u2019t just affect our planet\u2019s atmosphere\u2014it goes much deeper, into its soils. For instance, excessive application of manure or sewage sludge can increase heavy metal concentrations in agricultural land where vital crops are grown. One of these heavy metals is zinc, a micronutrient necessary for plant and animal health. In excess, however, zinc can be extremely damaging to sensitive plant species.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<figure id=\"attachment_50125\"  class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Wolfgang-Bussch-Kaizhen-Zhong-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-responsive wp-image-50125 size-pr-300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Wolfgang-Bussch-Kaizhen-Zhong-400x295.jpg\" alt=\"From left: Wolfgang Busch and Kaizhen Zhong.\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left: Wolfgang Busch and Kaizhen Zhong.<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Wolfgang-Bussch-Kaizhen-Zhong-scaled.jpg\">Haga clic aqu\u00ed<\/a> para obtener una imagen en alta resoluci\u00f3n.<br \/>Cr\u00e9dito: Instituto Salk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n<p>\r\nSome plants have a naturally higher tolerance for zinc that allows them to thrive in otherwise toxic conditions, but the biology behind this was previously unclear. In a new study, Salk Institute scientists identified a gene that helps plants manage excess zinc in the soil.\r\n<\/p><p>\r\nLos hallazgos, publicados en <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-024-50106-5\">Nature Communications<\/a><\/em> on July 11, 2024, reveal that plants tolerate high levels of zinc by trapping it in their root cell walls, a process facilitated by a gene called trichome birefringence or TBR. Scientists and farmers can now use this information to develop and grow crops that are more resilient to soil contamination. Enhancing plant resilience is a major goal of Salk\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/es\/harnessing-plants-initiative\/\">Iniciativa de Aprovechamiento de Plantas<\/a>.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n\u201cThe cell wall\u2019s structure is like a scaffold that can store zinc away from the rest of the plant, and if the TBR gene is active, plants can store <em>more<\/em> zinc away,\u201d explains senior author <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/es\/scientist\/wolfgang-busch\/\">Wolfgang Busch<\/a>, professor, executive director of the Harnessing Plants Initiative, and Hess Chair in Plant Science at Salk. \u201cWhat\u2019s interesting about this simple process is that it can be the difference between life and death for a plant exposed to toxic conditions.\u201d\r\n<\/p><p>\r\nA cell wall\u2019s capacity to store zinc is largely dependent on a process called pectin methylesterification\u2014a process that alters the structure of the spongy pectin molecules inside cell walls so that they can absorb more zinc. To better understand this, the researchers performed a genome-wide association study to identify plant genes associated with increased pectin methylesterification.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<figure id=\"attachment_49920\"  class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/BuschNatCommJuly.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"img-responsive wp-image-49920 size-col-md-5\" src=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/BuschNatCommJuly-400x559.png\" alt=\"Lotus japonicus sprouts, wildtype (left) and TBR homolog (right), in normal zinc levels (top) and high zinc levels (bottom). \" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Lotus japonicus<\/em> sprouts, wildtype (left) and TBR homolog (right), in normal zinc levels (top) and high zinc levels (bottom). <br \/><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/BuschNatCommJuly.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Haga clic aqu\u00ed<\/a> para obtener una imagen en alta resoluci\u00f3n.<br \/>Cr\u00e9dito: Instituto Salk<\/figcaption><\/figure><p>\r\n\u201cWe found that TBR allele variants influence changes in pectin methylesterification and help determine a plant\u2019s ability to tolerate higher zinc levels,\u201d says first author Kaizhen Zhong, a former visiting graduate student in Busch\u2019s lab. \u201cKnowing this is really important because we can now potentially introduce or activate this gene in other plants to create crops that are more resilient to environmental changes.\u201d\r\n<\/p><p>\r\nThese initial experiments were performed in <em>Arabidopsis thaliana<\/em>, a small flowering plant that scientists use as a model organism for studying plant biology. The researchers' next step was to see whether this gene works similarly in other plants, including important crop species. \r\n<\/p><p>\r\nTo do this, the scientists placed <em>Oryza sativa<\/em>, a common strain of rice and staple crop for billions of people, in soil with toxic levels of zinc. They specifically compared two versions of <em>Oryza<\/em>\u2014one with a functional TBR gene and one without\u2014and monitored their root growth as a measure of zinc tolerance.\r\n<\/p><p>\r\nThe rice with functional TBR thrived, confirming that this survival mechanism for zinc toxicity is conserved across multiple plant species. The same test was also done with the legume <em>Lotus japonicus<\/em>, producing the same result. \r\n<\/p><p>\r\n\u201cWhat\u2019s exciting is that our data suggest this phenomenon is conserved across all flowering plants, which make up the vast majority of plant species and food crops,\u201d says Busch. \u201cThis one discovery could be applied to increase plant resilience to toxic levels of zinc and help to support our future food supply.\u201d\r\n<\/p><p>\r\nWith the world\u2019s population projected to surge up to 11 billion by 2080 and the growing prevalence of zinc toxicity in our soils, it is imperative that progress be made to develop crops that can withstand these conditions. This study is an important step toward achieving that goal.\r\n<\/p><p>\r\nOther authors include Matthieu Pierre Platre, Wenrong He, Ling Zhang, Anna Ma\u0142olepszy, and Min Cao of Salk; Peng Zhang, Xiangjin Wei, Shikai Hu, and Shaoqing Tang of the National Rice Research Institute in China; Baohai Li of Salk and Zhejiang University in China; and Peisong Hu of the National Rice Research Institute in China and Jiangxi Agricultural University.\r\n<\/p><p>\r\nThe work was supported by Salk\u2019s Hess Chair in Plant Science, the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (LDQ23C130001), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32188102, 32071991), the Key Research and Development Program of Zhejiang Province (2020R51007, 2021C02056-1), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32172656).<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":50227,"template":"","faculty":[300],"disease-research":[450,125,451],"class_list":["post-50215","disclosure","type-disclosure","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","faculty-wolfgang-busch","disease-research-climate-change","disease-research-plant-biology","disease-research-plant-genomics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Study reveals key gene protecting plants from harmful metals in soil - Salk Institute for Biological Studies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/es\/news-release\/study-reveals-key-gene-protecting-plants-from-harmful-metals-in-soil\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Study reveals key gene protecting plants from harmful metals in soil - Salk Institute for Biological Studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LA JOLLA\u2014The negative impact of human activity on Earth doesn\u2019t just affect our planet\u2019s atmosphere\u2014it goes much deeper, into its soils. 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In excess, however, zinc can be extremely damaging to sensitive plant species.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/es\/news-release\/study-reveals-key-gene-protecting-plants-from-harmful-metals-in-soil\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Salk Institute for Biological Studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-07-18T22:25:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.salk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/image-busch.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"255\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"255\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.salk.edu\\\/news-release\\\/study-reveals-key-gene-protecting-plants-from-harmful-metals-in-soil\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.salk.edu\\\/news-release\\\/study-reveals-key-gene-protecting-plants-from-harmful-metals-in-soil\\\/\",\"name\":\"Study reveals key gene protecting plants from harmful metals in soil - 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