Sheng Yang He,
Howard Hughes Medical Institute-Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
Plant Biology
Investigator, and an MSU Distinguished Professor in the MSU-Department
of Energy Plant
Research Laboratory. Courtesy of MSU
(August 10, 2015) Just
as nations around the globe carefully guard their defense secrets, so do
plants.
New research in the current issue of Nature, however, has
revealed the molecular secrets of plants’ defense mechanisms at the atomic
level. The study, led by Michigan State University and Van Andel Research
Institute, focuses on the plant hormone jasmonate and its interaction with
three key proteins. The findings could help scientists develop dream crops that
are better equipped to fend off pests, diseases and future challenges created by
fluctuating climate.
“Our study focused on three plant proteins, MYC, JAZ and
MED25, which are key regulators of jasmonate signaling,” said Sheng Yang He, a
Howard Hughes Medical Institute-Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Plant Biology
Investigator, and an MSU Distinguished Professor in the MSU-Department of
Energy Plant Research Laboratory. “A thorough understanding of how plants grow
and defend themselves could lead to the design of a new generation of crops
that have increased tolerance to diverse stresses and produce higher yields.”
Jasmonate plays a crucial role in regulating defenses when
plants come under attacks from pests or pathogens. However, producing and
activating jasmonate to ward off these onslaughts takes significant energy and
requires plants to strike a delicate balance between defense and energy
conservation. If a plant constantly has its defenses activated, its growth can
be severely affected.
Globally, about one-third of food is lost or wasted across
the entire production chain, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations. With a growing global population and threats from plant
pathogens and pests, understanding how plants defend themselves against these
attacks is more important than ever before.