Unlocking the secrets of climate-resistant crops
Dr Soledad Perez-Santangelo from Waipapa Taumata Rau the University of Auckland will investigate how plants adjust their daily cycles in response to changing temperature, paving the way for gene technology to increase the resilience and sustainability of our crops
Published on 7 Whiringa-ā-rangi November 2024
As climate change disrupts global food systems, there is an urgent need to understand how plants respond to temperature fluctuations. Plants change their physiology throughout the day and flower at the right time of year thanks to their internal circadian clock, which is synchronised by daily external stimuli - mainly light and temperature. However, rising temperatures due to climate change are expected to disrupt the coordination between light and temperature cues, throwing off plants’ internal clocks and negatively impacting their performance. To mitigate these effects, farmers need crops that thrive in increasingly unpredictable environmental conditions.
Dr Perez-Santangelo and their international team have been awarded a Marsden Fund Standard grant to study how thermal cues set the internal clock and alter the physiology of legumes, an economically important group of crop plants. They will identify and validate circadian clock genes in a legume known as barrelclover (often used in research). The circadian clock pathway will be genetically modified to see how specific mutations impact the plant’s physiology and behaviour under different temperature regimes.
This research will give valuable insights into the inner workings of plant circadian biology. By identifying key genes that influence how plants respond to changing temperatures, the research will inform breeding and genetic-modification strategies that can be used to produce climate-resilient crops. Ultimately, the research has the potential to mitigate the impacts of climate change on agricultural productivity and future-proof global food systems.
Dr Soledad Perez-Santangelo (photo supplied)