Researchers discover how plants avoid sunburn
In New Hampshire, a Dartmouth-led team has discovered a group of stress-related proteins that explains how plants avoid sunburn in intense light, a finding that one day could help biotechnologists to develop crops that can better cope with hotter, drier conditions occurring in climate change.
In this study, Professor Hou-Sung Jung and his colleagues showed that a group of transcription factors called Heat Shock Transcription Factors are responsible for fast responses of plants to changes in light intensity — from light conditions that are optimal for photosynthesis to bright light that causes sunburn. Continuing work may make it possible to generate plants with increased protection from bright light with enhanced photosynthesis rates.
Category: Research
