The plasticity of plant morphology has evolved to maximize reproductive fitness in response to prevailing environmental conditions.Leaf architecture elaborates to maximize light harvesting,while the transition to flow...The plasticity of plant morphology has evolved to maximize reproductive fitness in response to prevailing environmental conditions.Leaf architecture elaborates to maximize light harvesting,while the transition to flowering can either be accelerated or delayed to improve an individual’s fitness.One of the most important environmental signals is light,with plants using light for both photosynthesis and as an environmental signal.Plants perceive different wavelengths of light using distinct photoreceptors.Recent advances in LED technology now enable light quality to be manipulated at a commercial scale,and as such opportunities now exist to take advantage of plants’developmental plasticity to enhance crop yield and quality through precise manipulation of a crops’lighting regime.This review will discuss how plants perceive and respond to light,and consider how these specific signaling pathways can be manipulated to improve crop yield and quality.展开更多
Plants exploit phenotypic plasticity to adapt their growth and development to prevailing environmental conditions.Interpretation of light and temperature signals is aided by the circadian system,which provides a tempo...Plants exploit phenotypic plasticity to adapt their growth and development to prevailing environmental conditions.Interpretation of light and temperature signals is aided by the circadian system,which provides a temporal context.Phenotypic plasticity provides a selective and competitive advantage in nature but is obstructive during large-scale,intensive agricultural practices since economically important traits(including vegetative growth and flowering time)can vary widely depending on local environmental condi-tions.This prevents accurate prediction of harvesting times and produces a variable crop.In this study,we sought to restrict phenotypic plasticity and circadian regulation by manipulating signaling systems that govern plants'responses to environmental signals.Mathematical modeling of plant growth and develop-ment predicted reduced plant responses to changing environments when circadian and light signaling pathways were manipulated.We tested this prediction by utilizing a constitutively active allele of the plant photoreceptor phytochrome B,along with disruption of the circadian systemvia mutation of EARLYFLOW-ERING3.We found that these manipulations produced plants that are less responsive to light and temper-ature cues and thus fail to anticipate dawn.These engineered plants have uniform vegetative growth and flowering time,demonstrating how phenotypic plasticity can be limited while maintaining plant productiv-ity.This has significant implications for future agriculture in both open fields and controlled environments.展开更多
基金The author thanks the University of Essex for funding this work.
文摘The plasticity of plant morphology has evolved to maximize reproductive fitness in response to prevailing environmental conditions.Leaf architecture elaborates to maximize light harvesting,while the transition to flowering can either be accelerated or delayed to improve an individual’s fitness.One of the most important environmental signals is light,with plants using light for both photosynthesis and as an environmental signal.Plants perceive different wavelengths of light using distinct photoreceptors.Recent advances in LED technology now enable light quality to be manipulated at a commercial scale,and as such opportunities now exist to take advantage of plants’developmental plasticity to enhance crop yield and quality through precise manipulation of a crops’lighting regime.This review will discuss how plants perceive and respond to light,and consider how these specific signaling pathways can be manipulated to improve crop yield and quality.
基金supported by the UKRI(BB/S005404/1 and BB/Z514469/1)the Gatsby Charitable Foundation,the Perry Foundation(to S.F.E.)+1 种基金the Douglas Bomford Trust(to S.F.E.)a William H.Danforth Plant Sciences Fellowship(to K.N.E.).
文摘Plants exploit phenotypic plasticity to adapt their growth and development to prevailing environmental conditions.Interpretation of light and temperature signals is aided by the circadian system,which provides a temporal context.Phenotypic plasticity provides a selective and competitive advantage in nature but is obstructive during large-scale,intensive agricultural practices since economically important traits(including vegetative growth and flowering time)can vary widely depending on local environmental condi-tions.This prevents accurate prediction of harvesting times and produces a variable crop.In this study,we sought to restrict phenotypic plasticity and circadian regulation by manipulating signaling systems that govern plants'responses to environmental signals.Mathematical modeling of plant growth and develop-ment predicted reduced plant responses to changing environments when circadian and light signaling pathways were manipulated.We tested this prediction by utilizing a constitutively active allele of the plant photoreceptor phytochrome B,along with disruption of the circadian systemvia mutation of EARLYFLOW-ERING3.We found that these manipulations produced plants that are less responsive to light and temper-ature cues and thus fail to anticipate dawn.These engineered plants have uniform vegetative growth and flowering time,demonstrating how phenotypic plasticity can be limited while maintaining plant productiv-ity.This has significant implications for future agriculture in both open fields and controlled environments.
