A Genetic Goldmine Found In Desert Plants Could Help Them Survive Global Warming

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Global warming has proven to be a worldwide problem. Forests have slowly disappeared as ice caps melt. The water has risen and while animals have been affected, plants have become victims too. Every living thing is in danger.

Hence, scientists and researchers have been searching for ways to cope with climate change. Recently, they have made some interesting discoveries that may help plants thrive despite the changes going on. This could be the answer to the world’s dilemma.

They have recently come across a “genetic goldmine” that could help the variety of plants and crops survive global warming. This new finding that has been unearthed comes unexpectedly as this was found in the driest desert in the world. No one certainly expected this, but now, they’re hoping that the key to solving survival may be found here.


The plants that are thriving in the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile may be the very answer to coping with climate change. This was stated in a research that was recently made by those studying the greenery in the region. As they inspected the plants, they have discovered that many have actually evolved. The genes they had allowed them to thrive in the region on earth that was most like the planet Mars.

Most of the genes discovered are closely related to staple foods. These are plants like grains, legumes, and potatoes. This discovery comes with a myriad of possibilities. The findings the scientists made opens doors of opportunities to engineering hardier fruits and vegetables.

Professor Gloria Coruzzi, of New York University, was the lead author of the study. She said, “In an era of accelerated climate change, it’s critical to uncover the genetic basis to improve crop production and resilience under dry and nutrient-poor conditions.”

The coastal desert is found between the Pacific coast and the Andes mountains. This is an arid plateau where plants aren’t oftentimes expected to thrive. At springtime, however, they found a little spot in the corner that is covered in a carpet of flowers. The purple pata de guanaco and yellow ananuca are among the 200 or more species of plants that blossom there. These wild plants have managed to flourish in an inhospitable environment. In fact, the area averages just around 0.01 centimeters of rainfall a year.

The other varieties found in this desert are grasses, annuals, and perennial shrubs. There are also mesquite trees, buckwheat bush, ferns ,and black sage that have grown deep roots and fleshy leaves in order to retain the moisture they otherwise lack.

 

The Hardiest Plants in the World

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An international team has finally been made, and their main goal is to get to the very bottom of this surprising phenomenon that has confounded scientists for years and years now. What they did was to establish an unprecedented “natural laboratory.” The main task of this lab was to identify specific genes and microbes that endowed these plants to survive the planet’s harsh conditions.

Their hope and goal is to provide everyone with the findings in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This is expected to help feed the world in the years to come. Co-lead author Prof Rodrigo Gutierrez, of The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, expounded, “Our study of plants in the Atacama Desert is directly relevant to regions around the world that are becoming increasingly arid, with factors such as drought, extreme temperatures, and salt in water and soil posing a significant threat to global food production.”

The plants that will benefit from this must learn to adapt to high altitude, low availability of nutrients in the soil, and extremely high radiation from the sun. In the last ten years, the researchers have managed to collect, label, and freeze the 32 most dominant plants. The species they had were taken from the 22 sites that scattered the desert. These plants were found in different vegetational areas and at every 100 meters of elevation.

The samples they collected were stored in liquid nitrogen and sent 1,000 miles kept under dry ice to Prof Gutierrez’ lab in Santiago. This was where their DNA was mapped by the laboratory’s team of experts. They had very interesting findings. Some plants were able to grow despite the fluctuating temperatures of more than 50 degrees from daytime to nighttime. Some even grew when there was a high radiation presence. Some of the plants collected were also discovered in soil that was largely sand and lacked nutrients. Their only source of nutrients was the annual rainfall that happened over a few days in the year.

They then analyzed the plants and some showed how species developed growth-promoting bacteria found near the roots. This was seen as an adaptive strategy where the species were able to optimize the intake of nitrogen, which is vital for growth, in the nutrient-poor soils of the Atacama region.

The researchers then looked at the genes whose protein sequences were adapted. Afterwards, they were identified by comparing the plants with 32 similar ‘sister’ species. The process was done through a technique called phylogenomics. This is when they experts work to reconstruct and rebuild the organism’s family tree. Prof Corruzi spoke about the findings made. These were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He said, “The goal was to use this evolutionary tree based on genome sequences to identify the changes in amino acid sequences encoded in the genes that support the evolution of the Atacama plant adaptation to desert conditions.”

In reality, some of the riverbeds in Atacama have been dry for a long time. In fact, they have expected that this happened about 120,000 years ago. Daytime temperatures in the aria are around 25 degrees Celsius. At night, this goes down to around minus two. NASA has also looked into it for clues to potential life in the Martian sub-surface.

Co-author of the study, Dr. Gil Eshel, of NYU, said, “This computationally intense genomic analysis involved comparing 1,686,950 protein sequences across more than 70 species. We used the resulting super-matrix of 8,599,764 amino acids for phylogenomic reconstruction of the evolutionary history of the Atacama species.” The study was also able to point out a total of 265 candidate genes wherein the protein sequence changes were selected by evolutionary forces.


The mutations that happen in the plants could highlight the factors that help with plant adaptation in the desert conditions. They took into consideration the genes that were involved in the response to light and photosynthesis. That’s because this ability may help allow them to adapt to the extreme radiation found in the area. More importantly, the researchers also uncovered genes that were involved in the regulation of stress response, salt, detoxification, and metal.

The abovementioned genes may be connected with the species ability to withstand a nutrient-poor environment. Studies of plant tolerance in the past have been based on lab experiments that only made use of a few model species, and these were missing the ecological context.

Co-author Dr Viviana Araus, a member of Prof Gutierrez’ lab, stated, “By studying an ecosystem in its natural environment, we were able to identify adaptive genes and molecular processes among species facing a common harsh environment.”

The most surprising blossom in the area is known locally as the “flowering desert.” Prof Gutierrez explained, “Most of the plant species we characterized in this research have not been studied before.” He further said, “As some Atacama plants are closely related to staple crops, including grains, legumes, and potatoes, the candidate genes we identified represent a genetic goldmine to engineer more resilient crops, a necessity given the increased desertification of our planet.”

It is important to note that Atacama is also thought to be an astronomer’s haven. With skies so clear and the air so dry, some of the most powerful telescopes in the world are found there.

 

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