Using newly generated 'optogenetic' tobacco plants, research teams have investigated how plants process external signals.
When it comes to survival, plants have a huge disadvantage compared to many other living organisms: they cannot simply change their location if predators or pathogens attack them or the environmental conditions change to their disadvantage.
In 2021, Georg Nagel's group, together with Dr. Kai Konrad, group leader at the JMU Chair of Prof. Rainer Hedrich Botany 1, published an approach to optimize the use of channelrhodopsins in plants by overcoming three main difficulties.Point 1:"Like all rhodopsins, including those in our eyes, channelrhodopsins require the small molecule retinal, also known as vitamin A, to absorb light. We humans get retinal mainly from beta-carotene, the provitamin A.
Comparable transgenic tobacco plants were produced for the recently published study by Dr. Meiqi Ding from the Department of Botany I under the direction of plant physiologist and expert for plant signal processing Dr. Kai Konrad from the group of Professor Rainer Hedrich at the Department of Botany I.Point 2:"Most rhodopsins are activated by blue or green light. However, this is always a component of white light," explains Georg Nagel.
Dr Sönke Scherzer at the chair of Prof Hedrich was able to show by direct ROS measurements that reactive oxygen species are released in the process.
Botany Genetics Nature Grassland Ecology Rainforests Acid Rain
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Plant biologists discover an ancient gene family is responsible for plant prickles across speciesAccording to Greek mythology, red roses first appeared when Aphrodite pricked her foot on a thorn, spilling blood on a white rose. Since then, roses' thorns have captured the imaginations of countless poets and forlorn lovers.
Read more »
Alert spurred by transformer fire at Plant Vogtle, a nuclear power plant in Georgia, endsAn “alert” was declared Tuesday at Plant Vogtle, although Georgia Power isn’t saying much about the emergency.
Read more »
Plant signaling pathways decoded using 'optogenetic' tobacco plantsUsing newly generated 'optogenetic' tobacco plants, research teams from the University of Würzburg's Departments of Plant Physiology and Neurophysiology have investigated how plants process external signals.
Read more »
Outsourcing conservation in Africa | ScienceDailyThere's an experiment going on in conservation in Africa. With biodiversity imperiled, and nations facing financial and political crises, some governments are transferring the management of protected areas to private, non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Read more »
More electricity from the sun | ScienceDailyA coating of solar cells with special organic molecules could pave the way for a new generation of solar panels. This coating can increase the efficiency of monolithic tandem cells made of silicon and perovskite while lowering their cost -- because they are produced from industrial, microstructured, standard silicon wafers.
Read more »
This protein does 'The Twist' | ScienceDailyThe NMDAR is involved in numerous cognitive functions including memory. Its movements are tightly coordinated like a choreographed dance routine. Scientists have now figured out how the protein performs a difficult 'Twist'-like dance move. The discovery could lead to new drug compounds that bind to NMDAR more effectively.
Read more »