Spain: Advances in the investigation of a hormone that protects plants against pathogens and stress
Ángel Mª Zamarreño and Jose Mª Garcia-Mina, researchers of the Bach group of the Department of Environmental Biology of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Navarra, have collaborated in a research led by the CSIC (Superior Council of Scientific Research) thanks to which A new pathway of jasmonic acid biosynthesis in plants has been unveiled (the jasmonate hormone is considered key in the defense of plants against pathogens and stress situations).
This work - recently published in Nature Chemical Biology, which will appear on the February cover of the publication - has been directed by Roberto Solano and his team at the National Center for Biotechnology of CSIC. Likewise, it has counted on the collaboration of different European groups. Among them, the Bach group of the University of Navarra, whose researchers have participated in the identification and determination of the main metabolites involved in the new route of synthesis of jasmonic acid, as explained by Professor García-Mina.
The beginning of a finding that can favor more efficient crops
According to Andrea Chini, CNB-CSIC scientist and first author of the study, "for decades we have taken for granted that there was only one way to generate the jasmonate hormone in plants. It is a deeply studied and perfectly described path. Our work reveals that the plants secretly kept an alternative route that allows them to have the hormone when they need it. "
According to the authors, the peculiarities of this new way are still unknown. "It may be activated only when the classical pathway fails, or only in response to specific stimuli. What seems clearer is that it has had significant significance throughout evolution and probably precedes the best-known route. "
"Likewise," adds Ángel Mª Zamarreño, a researcher from the University of Navarra, "this research may contribute to the future development of more effective strategies for crop protection against different types of stress."
Source: unav.edu
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