When disaster strikes, we run. We flee from drought and floods and hurricanes- and, if we’re lucky, we come back after the carnage has past. But what if you couldn’t? What if you were quite literally stuck where you put your roots down? Dr. Gifford, of the university of Warwick, is concerned with just that. She studies plants, and her new research topic delves into Plant Plasticity, or, to the layman, how plants adapt. On Thursday 13th October, Dr. Gifford came to talk to café scientifique about plant plasticity, and how plants with identical genes can have completely different phenotypes- so much so that to the average eye they can look like completely different species (called Phenotypic Plasticity). If you want to see an example of plants in extreme environments, you need only look at the ground the next time you’re on a motorway (café scientific does not accept any liability for any crashes caused). There are certain types of plants (usually weeds), which will grow between the cracks on the road. So, how do they do it? Basically, it comes down to their ability to adapt. There are two types of basic adaptation; they can become specialists, like the cactus, or they can be flexible (plant plasticity), which is where phenotypic plasticity (Same genes ‘turned on’ differently leading to different phenotypes) comes in. A popular question at this point maybe about drought- nothing can seem more baffling than looking at a picture of a barren waste land and seeing life. There are three things a plant can do to protect against drought: Avoid, tolerate and escape. A plants escape is to finish up its life cycle; to distribute seeds, and then die. If a plant were to choose the avoid mechanism, it might only grow at certain times of day, avoiding the worst of the drought (a bit like taking a siesta at noon to avoid the midday sun). The best way of describing tolerance is through the use of an example. The resurrection plant is a plant that basically shuts down until conditions and ok for growth. During this time it looks for all the world like a piece of tumbleweed. After good conditions, however, the plant ‘comes to life’. Like Dean from supernatural, it seems impossible to kill. (Great if you want a houseplant but also love holidays) Dr. Giffords research is concerned with what genes cause this, and can they be potentially transferred? Climate change is one of the biggest issues facing the scientific community to date. As global warming increases, we will be faced with increasing amounts of extreme weather. If they can use the Snorkel gene in, say the rice plant, which actually grows during flooding, and transplant it into agricultural crops, then they maybe able to prevent an entire years yield from being ruined by overflowing rivers or heavy rainfall. The next step in the Plant Survival Pack is to phone a friend. Plants can recruit bacteria to help them grow, which can enhance or increase the plants ability to absorb nutrients and grow, like nitrogen fixing bacteria. Plants in the Himalayas, which can seeming grow in impossible conditions, can attract a whole community of microbes and utilise resources that way. One of the first examples of microbes and plants working together is the theory of endosymbiosis, which explains why mitochondria have their own DNA, RNA and ribosomes, and also explains how plants first made the jump from sea to land. But, what relevance could this have to the world? Dr Gifford and her team are looking to create ‘smart plants’, which would be able to recruit bacteria- and the first is to look at how bacteria are taken up by the roots. They’re doing this through the use of florescent nanodots, which are easily taken up by roots. These dots are attached to microbes to find out what’s happening- at the moment they appear to be following the route of transpiration, so the next step for Dr.Gifford and her team is to add different sugar molecules to make the absorption more selective, and find the preferential route. If you want to find out more you can find Dr Gifford here: https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/lifesci/people/mgifford/
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