A new study shows how plants “encode” specific chemistries of their lignin to grow tall and sustain climate changes: each plant cell uses different combinations of the enzymes LACCASEs to create specific lignin chemistries.
A new study shows how plants “encode” specific chemistries of their lignin to grow tall and sustain climate changes: each plant cell uses different combinations of the enzymes LACCASEs to create specific lignin chemistries. These results can be used both in agriculture and in forestry for selecting plants with the best chemistry to resist climate challenges.
Lignin is an important carbon sink for the environment as it stores about 30 percent of the total carbon on the planet. It allows plants to hydrate and reach tremendous heights up to 100 metres; without lignin, plants could not grow nor survive climate changes. At the cell level, specific lignin chemistries adjust the mechanical strength and waterproofing to support plant growth and survival.
Scientists at Stockholm University recently demonstrated that lignin has a chemical “code” that is adapted at the cell level to fulfill different roles in plants (Read more here). How each cell “encodes” specific lignin chemistry however remained unknown. Researchers at the Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, DEEP) at Stockholm University led by Edouard Pesquet, Associate-Professor in molecular plant physiology and senior author of the study, just showed that different enzymes called LACCASEs are used by each cell to adjust their lignin “chemical code” in order to resist stresses such as drought or wind. The study finally shows how lignin is spatially controlled at the nanometer level in each plant cell. The findings could be used in both agriculture and forestry to select plants with a lignin chemistry that better resist future climate challenges.
Read more at Stockholm University
Image: Leonard Blaschek, newly graduated PhD student at Stockholm University DEEP and first author of the study, and Emiko Murozuka, post-doctoral researcher at Stockholm University DEEP and second author of the study, discussing the preparation of plant tissue samples for analyses. (Photo Credit: Amanda Gonzalez Bengtsson)
