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   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    The key to why plants flower early in a warming world    
      
     Date:   
         July 10, 2023   
     Source:   
         European Synchrotron Radiation Facility   
     Summary:   
         Scientists have unveiled a new mechanism that plants use to sense   
         temperature. This finding could lead to solutions to counteract   
         some of the deleterious changes in plant growth, flowering and   
         seed production due to climate change.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
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   Scientists have unveiled a new mechanism that plants use to sense   
   temperature.   
      
   This finding could lead to solutions to counteract some of the deleterious   
   changes in plant growth, flowering and seed production due to climate   
   change.   
      
   The results are published today in PNAS.   
      
   The rise of temperatures worldwide due to climate change is having   
   detrimental consequences for plants. They tend to flower earlier than   
   before and rush through the reproductive process, which translates into   
   less fruits and less seeds and reduced biomass.   
      
   Scientists are now working on the plants' circadian clock, which   
   determines their growth, metabolism and when they flower. The key   
   thermosensor of the circadian clock is EARLY FLOWERING 3 (ELF3),   
   a protein that plays a vital role in plant development. It integrates   
   various environmental cues, such as light and temperature, with internal   
   developmental signals, to regulate the expression of flowering genes   
   and determine when plants grow and bloom.   
      
   A team from the CEA, ESRF and CNRS have determined the molecular   
   mechanism of how ELF3 works in vitro and in the model plant Arabidopsis   
   thaliana. As temperature rises, ELF3 undergoes a process called phase   
   separation. This means that two liquid phases co-exist, in a similar way   
   to oil and water. "We believe that when it goes through phase separation,   
   it sequesters different protein partners like transcription factors,   
   which translates into faster growth and early flowering as a function of   
   elevated temperature," explains Chloe Zubieta, CNRS Research Director from   
   the Laboratoire de Physiologie Cellulaire et Vegetale at the CEA Grenoble   
   (CNRS/Univ. Grenoble Alpes/CEA/INRAE UMR 5168) and co-corresponding author   
   of the publication. "We are trying to understand the biophysics of the   
   prion-like domain inside ELF3, which we think is the responsible for this   
   phase separation."  ELF3 is a flexible protein, with no well-defined   
   structure, so it cannot be studied using X-ray crystallography, as   
   it needs to be in solution. Instead, the team used mainly Small Angle   
   X-ray Scattering. All existing models showed that the structure would be   
   highly disordered. Then the surprise came up: "I've seen many prion-like   
   domains involved in phase separation, but this is the first time I saw   
   something fundamentally different," explains Mark Tully, ESRF scientist   
   on BM29 and co-corresponding author of the publication.   
      
   The experiments showed that the prion-like domain forms a higher order   
   monodisperse oligomer, which is vital for phase separation. This oligomer   
   appears to be a ball of about 30 copies of the protein and acts as a   
   scaffold, which is likely necessary for it to interact with other proteins   
   in the plant cell. When the researchers increased the temperature, the   
   spheres came together to form a liquid phase and then, over time, an   
   ordered lamellar stack. Further experiments, using electron microscopy,   
   atomic force microscopy and X-ray powder diffraction on beamline ID23-1,   
   confirmed the results.   
      
   "If we manage to tune when phase separation occurs as a function   
   of temperature, by mutating different amino acid residues, we could   
   ultimately delay flowering of plants under warmer conditions, allowing   
   them to establish more biomass and make more fruits and seeds,"   
   explains Stephanie Hutin, a scientist at the CEA and first author of   
   the paper. "Therefore, the next step in this research will be to add a   
   different form of the ELF3 gene to the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana,   
   and to see what happens when we grow them at warm temperatures. If our   
   model is correct, we could do the same in crop species that have trouble   
   adapting to warmer conditions," she concludes.   
      
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Plants_&_Animals   
                   # Endangered_Plants # Nature # Botany # Seeds   
             o Earth_&_Climate   
                   # Climate # Global_Warming # Environmental_Issues #   
                   Weather   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Flowering_plant o Seed o   
             Temperature_record_of_the_past_1000_years o Global_warming   
             o Gymnosperm_Plants o Global_warming_controversy o   
             Paleoclimatology o Cotyledon   
      
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   Story Source: Materials provided by   
   European_Synchrotron_Radiation_Facility. Original written by Montserrat   
   Capellas Espuny. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
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   Journal Reference:   
      1. Stephanie Hutin, Janet R. Kumita, Vivien I. Strotmann, Anika   
      Dolata, Wai   
         Li Ling, Nessim Louafi, Anton Popov, Pierre-Emmanuel Milhiet,   
         Martin Blackledge, Max H. Nanao, Philip A. Wigge, Yvonne Stahl,   
         Luca Costa, Mark D. Tully, Chloe Zubieta. Phase separation and   
         molecular ordering of the prion-like domain of the Arabidopsis   
         thermosensory protein EARLY FLOWERING 3. Proceedings of the National   
         Academy of Sciences, 2023; 120 (28) DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2304714120   
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   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230710113932.htm   
      
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