Researchers from the Margarita Salas Center for Biological Research (CIB-CSIC) have discovered that plants contain TMAO, an osmolyte well known in animals for a long time but not yet described in plant species, which promotes stress tolerance and may represent a new biotechnological tool. increase agricultural production in unfavorable environmental conditions. Rafael Catala, the lead author of this work, will talk about TMAO in the next episode of Phytoma Meets. Biostimulants: Tools for Sustainable Agriculturewhich will be broadcast openly this Thursday, February 29from 16:30 to 18:30.
This study shows that plants also contain TMAO in their tissues. Their levels increase when they are exposed to unfavorable environmental conditions, such as low temperatures, high salt concentrations in the soil, or drought. Catala’s results indicate that this increase in TMAO levels results in increased plant tolerance to these conditions, and that a similar increase occurs with exogenous TMAO treatment. “In plants, TMAO appears to perform a similar function: protecting the structure of proteins and the physiological processes in which they participate from stress. In fact, our data showed that TMAO-treated plants have increased tolerance to cold, drought, and high soil salinity. These results confirm that TMAO is a very promising biotechnological tool for increasing agricultural production under adverse environmental conditions,” says Katala, senior scientist in the microbial and plant biotechnology department of CIB-CSIC. The results of this work, published in Science achievements
led to a patent for a product based on this metabolite, which is already on the market.Biostimulants have become important products to ensure the right balance between performance and sustainability. Its properties tailored to the specific needs of crops, as well as its ability to improve nutrient use efficiency and reduce the use of conventional fertilizers, contributed to its eventual introduction into the market. To better understand the effect of these solutions on plants, Biostimulants: Tools for Sustainable Agriculture brings together prominent research leaders to present the latest advances in the field. On March 21, Phytoma Meets will have a second part dedicated to bionutrition.
Phytoma Meets, audiovisual channel about plant health
2020 saw the launch of Phytoma Meets, virtual conferences on plant health topics that are broadcast openly and live on a professional platform that already has 4,000 registered users. Since then, about twenty conferences have been held, all of which are available on the Phytoma YouTube channel. This is a commitment to promote new audiovisual formats.
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