Post on 21-May-2018
Understanding how plants cope with drought Dr. David Parrott, a plant biologist, studies how plants sense and respond to their surrounding environment. His research has uncovered how plants deal with our arid Utah desert climate. While humans have developed mobility aids to adapt to restricted locomotion, plants have established a means to adapt in place. Plants cannot walk or drive away when conditions become too hot, too dry, or too salty. One way plants adapt to handle these stressors is to limit or stop growth when exposed to unfavorable conditions. For instance, when plants do not have enough water available, the creation of sugars (the plant’s food source) in the leaves is turned off, which in turn stops the growth of the entire plant. This is one way that plants conserve energy during a drought. Scientists are seeking a better understanding of how plants are able to adjust to changes in their surroundings. Dr. Parrott has discovered a brand new chemical made in the roots of plants that is transported to the shoot where it acts as a signal to stop both the shoot and root from growing. This chemical was discovered in the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana, a plant that is the center of countless studies in plant biology. However, the exact identity of the chemical is still unknown, and there is still much to be learned about precisely how this chemical signal functions in sensing drought conditions. This exciting new discovery contributes to the broader understanding of how plants are able to survive in a variety unfavorable conditions.
Arabidopsis thaliana
David Parrott at work in his lab
Peggy Greb, USDA