Scientists have been stumped by the signals plants send themselves to initiate photosynthesis. Those signals have now been deciphered.
The nucleus of a plant cell sends instructions to other parts of the cell in order for them to move forward with the process of photosynthesis. Plants won't grow if they don't have the instructions in the form of proteins.
The challenge was that the nucleus has a lot of small building blocks. It was like finding needles in a haystack when determining which ones were the signal to them to start making food.
The process by which the scientists in Chen's laboratory were able to find four of these are documented in a paper.
In the past, Chen's team has shown that certain plant genes are activated by light. The signal that transforms small organs into chloroplasts is part of the reaction.
The whole process is similar to a symphony.
The conductor of the symphony is a nucleus that responds to light. In the paper, we showed that both red and blue light-sensitive photoreceptors start the symphony. The building blocks of photosynthesis are activated.
The symphony is performed in two rooms in the cell by both local and remote musicians. The conductors who are present only in the nucleus need to send messages to the musicians who are far away. The last step is controlled by four new discoveries that travel from the nucleus to the chloroplasts.
The National Institutes of Health funded this work in order to find a cure for cancer. The hope is based on similarities between the cell types. Fuel for growth is generated by both organelles.
Communication back to the nucleus is described in a lot of research. They will send signals to the nucleus if there is a problem with the organelles. The activity-regulating signals from the nucleus to the organelles are not well-known.
The nucleus may be able to control the expression of genes. The principles we learn from the nucleus-to-chloroplast communication pathway might help us understand how the nucleus regulates genes in cancer.
Understanding how photosynthesis is controlled can be applied to other areas. Humans on another planet would likely need indoor farming and a light scheme to increase yields. Climate change is posing a challenge to crop growers.
Plants are able to do photosynthesis, which is why we can survive on this planet. There are no animals without them. The ability to manipulate plant growth is important for food security.
Anterograde signaling controls plastid transcription via sigma factors.
Journal information: Nature Communications
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