Plants That Measure Twilight | EOS Science

Chronobiologist Devang Mehta (KULeuven) investigates the day-night rhythms of plants and how they affect their lives. His research focuses on the molecular biological clock. Arabidopsis thaliana plantthe cabbage family and also the laboratory mouse of plant biologists.

Not only Arabidopsis, but all other plants have such a daily rhythm in their cells. This allows them to synchronize their lifestyle with the rotation of the Earth. They may need up to fourteen genes to set the rhythm. Previous research has already shown how changes in day length and temperature can shift the clock. Re-SetMehta’s research demonstrated for the first time that some clock genes also measure the length of the twilight.

The Leuven researcher and his colleagues found that differences in twilight duration affected growth and flowering time in Arabidopsis. Increasing twilight length by thirty or sixty minutes resulted in plants that were 30 percent larger, while increasing twilight length by ninety minutes resulted in smaller plants that flowered later.

sooner or later flourish

Some plants lack a number of clock genes, as well as the light receptor genes that relay information to the clock. Mehta discovered that this is called Short Mutants were insensitive to twilight duration.

According to Devang Mehta, his discovery is important for future agriculture. “Climate change is increasingly shifting crop production northward. At these new latitudes, they will have to adapt to longer twilights. Twilight lasts much longer in the Arctic Circle than at the equator, and in summer the twilight is much longer than in winter. Some southern crops do not grow well at northern latitudes because their biological clocks cannot adapt to longer twilights and shorter seasons. As a result, they bloom earlier or later than desired.”

The researchers now want to bring their discovery closer to application with new research. They are improving plant clocks using CRISPR-Cas9 to adapt plants to new latitudes. At the same time, they are investigating innovative lighting schemes in agriculture. Traditionally, growers in greenhouses and vertical farming simply turn lights on and off, without dimming them. However, gradually increasing light is likely to improve flowering and growth, while farmers save electricity.