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Plants' internal clock can improve climate-change models
July 06, 2009The ability of plants to tell the time, a mechanism common to all living beings, enables them to survive, grow and reproduce. In a study published in the latest issue of the prestigious journal Ecology Letters, an international team has studied this circadian clock from a molecular viewpoint and has found an ecological implication: it makes climate change scenarios and CO2 level figures more accurate.
The international team of researchers led by the University of Castilla-La-Mancha (UCLM) has compiled the research carried out to date on this topic in order to understand the implications of the so-called "circadian clock" as regards the survival and ecology of a wide range of plant species. The plants of the model species Arabidopsis thaliana, created in a laboratory environment without this ability, found it difficult to survive and reproduced less frequently.
"One hour before the sun comes out, a plant with a circadian clock already knows that it is time to wake up and all the genes associated to photosynthesis begin to activate," Víctor Resco de Dios, main author of the study and a researcher in the Environmental Science Department of the UCLM explained to SINC.
The study, which has been published in the latest issue of Ecology Letters, reveals the ecological implications of plants' ability to "tell the time". Researchers have studied the genes involved in photosynthesis and adapting to the climate.
As much as 90% of a plant's genes are regulated by the circadian clock. "The clock coordinates when a plant should flower and also when it should germinate a seed," Resco de Dios adds. According to the scientist, the circadian clock has a great capacity to adapt to its physical environment.
The Key to Surviving an Increase in Temperatures?
Plants take up CO2 by means of photosynthesis and can potentially mitigate climate change. However, "in studies performed by ecologists to ascertain the level of CO2 in the models, circadian regulation was not taken into account," the researcher underlines.
The team of scientists suggests this regulation should be included in climate models based on the study of plant life in order to obtain better and more accurate results. "A normal climate change model would forecast photosynthesis to be uniform between 6am and 10am in a tropical forest if environmental conditions (light, humidity, temperature, etc) are constant. However, as plants have a circadian clock, photosynthesis is seen to increase during that time of the day", the ecologist states.
According to the scientists, the circadian clock may well be the key for plants to survive a rise in temperatures. Plants without optimised circadian regulation will have "more difficulty to adjust to climate changes and survive the stress". The team now encourages further research from an ecological viewpoint, as "the value of this topic has been underestimated."
FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology
The study, which has been published in the latest issue of Ecology Letters, reveals the ecological implications of plants' ability to "tell the time". Researchers have studied the genes involved in photosynthesis and adapting to the climate.
As much as 90% of a plant's genes are regulated by the circadian clock. "The clock coordinates when a plant should flower and also when it should germinate a seed," Resco de Dios adds. According to the scientist, the circadian clock has a great capacity to adapt to its physical environment.
The Key to Surviving an Increase in Temperatures?
Plants take up CO2 by means of photosynthesis and can potentially mitigate climate change. However, "in studies performed by ecologists to ascertain the level of CO2 in the models, circadian regulation was not taken into account," the researcher underlines.
The team of scientists suggests this regulation should be included in climate models based on the study of plant life in order to obtain better and more accurate results. "A normal climate change model would forecast photosynthesis to be uniform between 6am and 10am in a tropical forest if environmental conditions (light, humidity, temperature, etc) are constant. However, as plants have a circadian clock, photosynthesis is seen to increase during that time of the day", the ecologist states.
According to the scientists, the circadian clock may well be the key for plants to survive a rise in temperatures. Plants without optimised circadian regulation will have "more difficulty to adjust to climate changes and survive the stress". The team now encourages further research from an ecological viewpoint, as "the value of this topic has been underestimated."
FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology
Circadian Clock Current Events and Circadian Clock News RSSNew paper describes connections between Circadian and metabolic systems
A paper by University of Notre Dame biologist Giles Duffield and a team of researchers offers new insights into a gene that plays a key role in modulating the body's Circadian system and may also simultaneously modulate its metabolic system.
Faulty body clock may make kids bipolar
Malfunctioning circadian clock genes may be responsible for bipolar disorder in children. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Psychiatry found four versions of the regulatory gene RORB that were associated with pediatric bipolar disorder.
Circadian surprise: A heat sensor for body-clock synchronization
New research on the fruit-fly brain points to a possible mechanism by which temperature influences the body clock, according to scientists from Queen Mary, University of London.
U-M discovery about biological clocks overturns long-held theory
University of Michigan mathematicians and their British colleagues say they have identified the signal that the brain sends to the rest of the body to control biological rhythms, a finding that overturns a long-held theory about our internal clock.
MicroRNAs grease the cell's circadian clockwork
Most of our cells possess an internal clock, a group of genes displaying a cyclic expression pattern that reaches a peak once a day.
A Biological Basis for the 8-Hour Workday?
The circadian clock coordinates physiological and behavioral processes on a 24-hour rhythm, allowing animals to anticipate changes in their environment and prepare accordingly. Scientists already know that some genes are controlled by the clock and are turned on only one time during each 24-hour cycle.
Scripps research scientists model 3D structures of proteins that control human clock
In an Early Edition issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on April 9, 2009, the researchers report that they have been able to determine the molecular structure of a plant photolyase protein that is surprisingly similar to two cryptochrome proteins that control the "master clock" in humans and other mammals.
Missing or mutated 'clock' gene linked to vascular disease
The circadian clocks that set the rhythmic motion of our bodies for wakeful days and sleepy nights can also set us up for vascular disease when broken, Medical College of Georgia researchers say.
UNC study: Tinkering with the circadian clock can suppress cancer growth
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have shown that disruption of the circadian clock - the internal time-keeping mechanism that keeps the body running on a 24-hour cycle - can slow the progression of cancer.
UNC study supports role of circadian clock in response to chemotherapy
For years, research has hinted that the time of day that cancer patients receive chemotherapy can impact their chances of survival. But the lack of a clear scientific explanation for this finding has kept clinicians from considering timing as a factor in treatment.
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