Do plants remember? Biologists from the Universities of Birmingham and Nottingham have discovered a mechanism that allows flowering plants to sense and "remember" changes in their environment. The study, published in Nature Communications, uncovers potential new breeding opportunities for new plant varieties, including cereals and vegetables, that can adapt to different environmental conditions.
The memory function of plants allows them to precisely coordinate their development in response to stress or the changing seasons. For example, many plants remember the prolonged coldness of winter, which ensures they can only flower in spring when warmer temperatures return. One way to "remember" is the PRC2 group of proteins. In the cold, these proteins form a complex and switch the plant to flowering mode. It is not entirely clear how PRC2 detects changes in the environment in order to ensure that activation occurs only when necessary.
Plants remember the cold
A new study is shedding light on the "environmental sensing" function of PRC2 proteins.
Scientists have found that the main component of the complex, the VRN2 protein, is highly unstable. At higher temperatures and excess oxygen, the VRN2 protein is constantly degraded. When environmental conditions become more challenging, such as when the plant is flooded and oxygen levels are low, VRN2 becomes stable and improves survival. The VRN2 protein also accumulates in the cold. This allows the PRC2 complex to start flowering when the temperature rises. Scientists investigated the reasons for this and found surprising similarities between plant responses to cold and low oxygen levels during flooding.
Remarkably, animals also have a PRC2 complex, but no stable VRN2 protein. This system seems to have evolved precisely in flowering plants. Perhaps it gives them more flexibility and the ability to adapt because they are anchored in the ground and unable to move.
Ilya Khel