Scientists elated after making game-changing discovery that could transform how we grow food: 'I was really excited'
Japanese scientists recently identified a new class of small molecules called devernalizers capable of delaying crop flowering. By manipulating these molecules, scientists hope they can fine-tune a plant's life cycle to better align with changing environmental conditions.
As pollution-driven climate shifts become more severe, the agricultural sector has struggled to adapt to rising global temperatures and frequent extreme weather events. That's because plants are on nature's timing, so any shifts in seasonal patterns can throw off their growth cycles. Scientists have been looking for solutions to make plants more resilient to climate shifts, and they may be closer than ever.
Flowering marks when a plant shifts energy from leafy growth to seed production. While this is crucial for producing fruits and grains, it can cause leafy vegetables, such as spinach and lettuce, to lose nutritional value. Once these plants flower, they begin to die, so premature flowering can spell disaster for greens. Typically, plants need a spell of cold weather to trigger flowering, a process known as vernalization. But as these cues become less reliable due to climate change, plants may flower too early, reducing yields and nutritional quality. Reversing that process, called devernalization, has been difficult — until now.
In the new research, published in Communications Biology, scientists screened more than 16,000 chemical compounds, discovering five devernalizers that reactivated the gene responsible for suppressing flowering. They also identified a sixth compound, called DVR06, which is structurally simpler than the others and enables more precise control over flowering.
Experimental results showed that plants treated with DVR06 exhibited delayed flowering without hurting the plant, something current heat-based methods struggle with.
"Applying heat treatment to plants in the field is both labor-intensive and costly," team lead Makoto Shirakawa, an assistant professor at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology, said in a release. "So, I was really excited when we found out that DVR06 had a more specific effect than heat treatment. This was the moment when all the time we had spent on screening finally paid off."
The researchers say their discovery could be a critical breakthrough for agriculture by allowing scientists to fine-tune when crops flower, which can help boost healthy yields by undoing some of the damage of unseasonable weather. The team plans to conduct further research exploring devernalization technologies to support "stable food production under a fluctuating global environment," according to the release.
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