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Progress in understanding how plants adapt to climate change

Progress in understanding how plants adapt to climate change

Gibberellins are phytohormones that play important roles in different aspects of plant development, such as germination or flowering, but also in plant adaptation to adverse environmental conditions. Researchers from the Spanish Centre for Biotechnology and Plant Genomics (CBGP) have shown that HOP co-chaperones participate in the signaling of gibberellins in plants.

The study, carried out in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, has shown that HOP co-chaperones (HSP70-HSP90 organising proteins) play an essential role in gibberellin signalling, binding to the F-box protein SNE and facilitating its accumulation and stabilisation. In this way, HOP proteins facilitate the degradation of the DELLA RGA protein, accelerating key physiological processes that depend on the gibberellin pathway, such as germination, flowering or plant adaptation to moderate increases in temperature. These studies are key to understanding how plants adapt to temperature increases associated with climate change.

The article has been published in Plant Communications (2023).

More information at CBGP website.