Which leads to the “suicide” of the parasitic plant to help farmers

Children’s weeds are good and ruthless, and theft of nutrients from crops and destroyed harvesting. But what if farmers can deceive these invaders in self -destruction? Scientists at the University of California believe in Riferside that they have found a way.

Throughout sub -Saharan Africa and parts of Asia, places that are already struggling can be lost with food insecurity, and whole fields of nutrients such as rice and fine corn can be lost to a group of weeds that drain the crops of nutrients before they can grow. Farmers are fighting these parasites with a few effective tools, but UCR researchers may be able to convert weeds biology against them.

This trick detailed In the magazine sciencesAnd in its heart lies a category of hormones called Strgolactones – unstable chemicals that play dual roles. Internally, it helps control growth and plant response to pressure such as insufficient water. From the outside, they do something unusual for plant hormones.

“Most of the time, plant hormones do not radiate externally-they are not made up. But these things do that,” said David Nelson, UCR, and co-author of the paper. “Strioactones are used to attract fungi in soil that have a useful relationship with the roots of the plant.”

Unfortunately for farmers, parasitic herbs have learned kidnapping Strgolactone signals, using them as an invitation to invasion.

Once the herbs feel the presence of Striglactones, they germinate and throw the roots of the crop, and drain them from the basic nutrients.

“These weeds are waiting for a signal to wake up,” Nelson said. “We can give them this sign in the wrong time – when there is no food for them – so they die and die.” “It is like turning their own key against them, and encouraging them mainly to commit suicide.”

To understand the production of Strigolackone, the Yanran Li research team, which was previously at UCR and now at the University of California, San Diego, developed an innovative system using bacteria and yeast. Through E. COLI engineering and yeast cells that work like small chemical factories, they reinforced the biological steps needed to produce these hormones. This penetration allows researchers to study Strgolactone in an control environment and may produce large amounts of these valuable chemicals.

Researchers also studied the enzymes responsible for the production of Strgolackones, with a metabolic branch point that may be decisive in the development of these hormones from internal organizers to external signals.

“This is a strong system for investigating plant enzymes,” Nelson said. “It enables us to describe the genes that have not been studied before and tampered with to find out how it affects the type Strgolacontones.”

Besides agriculture, Strgolackones carries a promise to medical and environmental applications. Some studies indicate that they can be used as anti -cancer or anti -viral agents, and there is an interest in its potential role in fighting citrus fruits, which leads to extensive damage to citrus crops in Florida.

Scientists still have questions about whether the suicide strategy will work in the fields of the real world. “We are testing whether we can adjust the chemical signal to be more effective,” Nelson said. “If we can, this may be a changing games for farmers who fight these weeds.”

This research was led by the distinguished UCR professor and the genetic capital, Julia Billy Ceres.