Huge discovery: 'Booster' gene makes plants and trees grows 200 percent taller
Scientists have identified a booster gene in a poplar species that can help certain plants grow exponentially taller and produce more plant matter.
They found this gene after studying trees grown in different environments and noticed big differences in how quickly they sprouted up.
The gene, which they named Booster, caught their eye with its unusual origins and its direct link to stronger growth and better use of sunlight.
The gene can boost tree height by about 30% in field conditions and by as much as 200% in a greenhouse setting, which signals a possible route toward healthier, more productive plants.
Finding plants’ Booster gene
The study was led in part by Stephen Long at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Jerry Tuskan at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
“This discovery could be a game-changer in terms of a big stimulation of photosynthesis and plant productivity,” explained Stephen Long.
They focused on Populus trichocarpa, also known as black cottonwood, which grows from Baja California up into northern Canada.
This species is often considered a promising candidate for producing biofuels and other useful materials.
It was here that the researchers found Booster, a chimeric gene that emerged from several genetic pieces combined into one.
Where did the Booster gene come from?
Booster developed as a combination of three originally separate genetic sequences.
One came from a bacterium living in the tree’s root zone, one from an ant associated with a fungus that infects the tree, and one from the large subunit of a protein called Rubisco.
Rubisco plays a key role in capturing carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. When the team encouraged poplar trees to express Booster more strongly, the results were striking.
The trees showed up to 62% more Rubisco content, about a 25% increase in net leaf carbon dioxide uptake, as much as 37% taller growth in field tests, 88% more stem volume, and, under controlled greenhouse conditions, heights up to 200% taller.
Testing the same gene in Arabidopsis, a small flowering plant, increased its biomass and improved its seed output by 50%.
“Conserved chimeric genes such as Booster are often disregarded as non-functional, evolutionary artifacts that no longer influence plant processes. But here we proved just the opposite,” explained ORNL’s Biruk Feyissa.
“Our molecular and physiological validation confirmed that Booster enhances photosynthesis so that plants perform better under steady and fluctuating light conditions.”
Why does any of this matter?
Both black cottonwood and Arabidopsis belong to a group known as C3 plants. This group includes well-known food crops such as soybeans, rice, wheat, and oats.
If Booster works similarly in these other plants, then farmers might achieve higher production without needing more land, water, or fertilizer.
“Growing high-yielding, perennial bioenergy crops on marginal lands unsuitable for conventional agriculture can help us meet rising demand for liquid biofuels for hard-to-electrify sectors like aviation,” noted Tuskan.
Scientists are now looking at putting these findings to the test in various places over longer periods. By trying Booster out in different environments, they can see how well it holds up and what kind of results it delivers over the long haul.
“The discovery opens up a new avenue of scientific thinking. We tend to think of photosynthesis as a difficult-to-improve process,” Tuskan continued.
But in fact, the molecular machinery surrounding photosynthesis has continued to evolve as plants adapted to their environment.
In this case, the exchange of DNA with associated organisms changed a biological process in a fundamental way.
Screening and genetic insights
For years, scientists at CBI studied poplar trees as a steady source of plant material that does not compete directly with food crops.
They carried out a genome-wide association study, collecting samples from around 1,500 wild trees and examining their genetic makeup.
They identified over 28 million single nucleotide polymorphisms to help pinpoint genes related to growth, carbon and nitrogen content, lignin, and more efficient water use.
From there, they looked for genes involved in photosynthetic quenching, a key process in handling changes in sunlight.
Scientists at CABBI tested poplar in trial gardens in Davis, California. Molecular analysis then showed that Booster linked to genes that influence how plants manage energy flow in changing light conditions.
Researchers used many state-of-the-art technology resources, benefiting from large-scale screening techniques that allowed them to measure physical traits rapidly and accurately.
What’s next for Booster and plant genes?
To sum it all up, this discovery demonstrates how close teamwork across institutions can help uncover useful genetic traits that might have gone unnoticed.
With ongoing support from the Department of Energy’s Biological and Environmental Research Program, these centers will explore Booster’s potential across a wide range of conditions and plant species.
There is interest in seeing if similar results appear in other crops important for the economy and energy production.
If efforts continue and produce steady success, Booster could provide a simple way to improve plant growth.
More productive plants that use resources efficiently would help meet increasing global food demands without straining existing farmland, and that would, quite literally, change everything.
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This work comes from researchers at two Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Centers: the Center for Bioenergy Innovation (CBI) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
The full study was published in the journal Developmental Cell.
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