UK: Crops evolved by swapping genetic modules between cells

Published 2023년 5월 10일

Tridge summary

A study led by New York University has revealed evolutionary differences in corn, sorghum, and millet at the individual cell level, potentially paving the way for identifying genes that control important agricultural traits like drought tolerance. The research, published in Nature, shows that these crops have distinct adaptations, with sorghum being more drought-resistant than corn, and millet being a more distant relative. The team conducted single-cell mRNA profiling of the roots, identifying trends indicating cellular tinkering and gene module swapping between cell types over evolution. Future research will focus on how these single cells of the three crops respond to stress, such as drought, to identify the genes crucial for drought tolerance.

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Original content

Comparing individual cells across corn, sorghum and millet reveals evolutionary differences among these important cereal crops, according to a new study led by New York University researchers. The findings, published in Nature, bring researchers closer to pinpointing which genes control important agricultural traits such as drought tolerance, which will help scientists faced with a changing climate adapt crops to drier environments. Corn, sorghum, and millet provide food for humans and animals around the world. Corn and sorghum are ancient relatives that evolved into two different species roughly 12 million years ago, and millet is a more distant relative. Despite their shared ancestry, the crops have substantial differences in key traits—for instance, sorghum is far more tolerant to drought than is corn, and the plants release unique gooey substances from their roots to shape how they interact with their ...

Source: Phys