Plants also have the same biological clock system as the human body. Some are early larks and some are late sleepers. It turns out that differences in a single letter in a plant’s DNA can make a decisive difference.
The biological clock is like a metronome on the molecular level, guiding the biological day and night. For plants, it regulates a variety of systems, from the arrival of dawn to improved photosynthesis, to the length of the flower.
These rhythms vary from place to place, latitude to climate and season to season, and the plant biological clock has to be responsible for adjusting the plant’s systems to best suit the local environment.
Researchers from the Earlham Institute and the John Innes Centre in the UK have sequenced the genes of 191 species under the Swedish herb Arabidopsis to explore the relationship between genes and biological clocks. Arabidopsis is an annual, biennial, or perennial herb of the genus Arabidopsis belonging to the family Cruciferae, found mainly in Asia and Europe.
Hannah Rees, one of the authors of the study, said: he overall health of plants is strongly influenced by the plant biological clock in relation to the amount of daylight per day and the seasons.? Accurate biological clocks help plants compete with each other and give them an edge against predators and pathogens.”
When the team sequenced the genes of the species, they found that changes in a particular gene, COR28, affected the time and length of flowering. The gene regulates flowering, frost resistance and biological clocks. Because the climate in Sweden is characterized by diversity, plants need these factors to adjust their rhythm to adapt to the local environment.
“It’s amazing,” Rees said. “It’s just a genetic change that affects how fast or slow the body clock is.”
The study also found that the difference between the plants that woke first and last could be as much as 10 hours, similar to the difference between people working the “morning shift” and the “night shift”.
The researchers say the information helps farmers choose plants with different biological clocks, which are best suited to local conditions, help increase yields and cope with climate change.
The study was recently published in the journal Plant, Cell and Environment.
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