A NEW study led by Scottish scientists will explore how crops remember extreme weather changes in an effort to ensure food and nutrition safety amidst climate change.
A team of scientists at University of Dundee will use strawberries and tomatoes to study how crops remember and respond to extreme heat.
The rise of frequent heat waves has increased the need to understand how plants respond and adapt to these conditions, which is crucial in protecting food safety.
Led by Dr Claudia Martinho, expert in plant genetics and epigenetics at Dundee, and supported by a Leverhulme Trust Research Leadership Award of just under £1m, the project is set to last five years and will examine how past information is stored in plants through looking at “chemical modifications written on their DNA”.
Dr Martinho said: “Plants are wonderful organisms with the ability to remember past environmental experiences.
“The question of how they store this information, reproduce it through cell division, and sometimes even transmit it to the next generation has really captured my imagination.
“These intricate molecular mechanisms represent one of the fundamental unanswered questions in plant biology.
“As humans, if our skin is burned by the sun, we use that experience to take preventative measures in the future.
“Plants are similar in that they too learn from past experiences and prime their genes to better respond to future stresses.
“Unlike animals, plants can maintain some molecular changes in DNA associated with environmental experiences.
“These modifications can determine how genes are activated or repressed in response to stress.
“More incredibly, some plant species can respond better after their first exposure to environmental stress, so are primed to deal with whatever challenge they face.”
Strawberries and tomatoes have been chosen as the focus of the study since they are both particularly sensitive to heat and popular in the UK.
Dr Martinho added: “Last summer we saw a big drop in barley production in the UK and we know other crops are at risk.”
Studying both fruits will ensure the security of a number of plants as a result.
Dr Martinho said: “By the end of this project we would be looking to have developed an understanding of the mechanisms that develop plant resilience.
“Doing so could be an important step in ensuring the security of not just strawberries and tomatoes, but a multitude of crops that we depend upon.”
