荔枝视频

New research by scientists at the 荔枝视频 has found that plants, ranging from canola to rice to tomatoes, actively shut down their own ability to take up iron when they experience drought.

It鈥檚 a finding that could have implications for the nutritional value of agricultural crops.

The study, , questions whether plants send out a "cry for help" when they are stressed by drought to recruit beneficial soil microbes (e.g., bacteria and fungi) in their roots.

鈥淲e found that this shift is the result of specific changes to plant roots,鈥� says , PhD, lead author on the study and now an assistant professor in the with U荔枝视频鈥檚 Faculty of Science. 鈥淚t happens because plants, under drought stress, dial down both their immune systems and their iron uptake machinery.鈥�

Fitzpatrick says that allows a particular group of bacteria, called Streptomyces, to thrive 鈥� but it doesn鈥檛 automatically mean healthier plants. Some Streptomyces strains help, he explains, while others interfere.

鈥淭ogether, this leads to a new way of thinking about plant-microbe interactions during drought,鈥� he says. 鈥淒rought doesn鈥檛 just stress plants. It fundamentally rewires how they manage nutrients and interact with the microbial world around them.鈥�

Fitzpatrick says the research is important for plant biology, but also provides insight into global food security and human nutrition.

鈥淚ron deficiency is already one of the most widespread nutritional disorders in the world, affecting billions of people,鈥� he says. 鈥淢uch of the iron in human diets comes from plants such as cereals and legumes.

鈥淎t the same time, drought is increasing in frequency and severity across many agricultural regions due to climate change.鈥�

Fitzpatrick, who did his postdoctoral work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and finished the research at U荔枝视频, says the research suggests the challenges could be more connected than previously appreciated.

鈥淚t means drought may not only reduce crop yield, but also reduce the nutritional quality of crops by limiting iron in edible tissues," he says.

Fitzpatrick says the research team found the reduction in iron uptake as they were trying to understand microbial enrichment in plant roots.

鈥淲e experimentally manipulated drought stress and iron availability to get at the mechanism,鈥� he explains. 

The team initially used a model organism, Arabidopsis thaliana, known as the fruit fly of the plant world, and later demonstrated it across a wide variety of plants.

鈥淲e鈥檝e shown this for rice, we鈥檝e shown this for tomato and, more recently, we鈥檝e shown this for canola,鈥� Fitzpatrick says.

The research opens the door to creating probiotic soil treatments or ways of breeding crops that sustain iron uptake during a drought, he adds.

Fitzpatrick and another biological sciences researcher, , PhD, were also recently awarded funding through the .

The projects are expected to provide new strategies for managing pests and diseases and addressing emerging threats such as weeds and viral infections.

Fitzpatrick will study a fungus called Verticillium longisporum, which causes Verticillium stripe 鈥� a serious disease that damages canola crops.

Lebenzon will research overwintering physiology and population modelling of flea beetles in canola.

A total of across all of Canada.