Exploit Plants Ability To Tell The Time To Make Food Production More Sustainable, Say Scientists
Cambridge plant scientists say circadian clock genes, which enable plants to measure daily and seasonal rhythms, should be targeted in agriculture and crop breeding for higher yields and more sustainable farming.
Like humans, plants have an ‘internal clock’ that monitors the rhythms of their environment. The authors of a study published today say that now the genetic basis of this circadian system is well understood and there are improved genetic tools to modify it, the clock should be exploited in agriculture - a process they describe as ‘chronoculture’ - to contribute to global food security.
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Exploit plants’ ability to tell time to make food production more sustainable, say scientists
Cambridge plant scientists say circadian clock genes, which enable plants to measure daily and seasonal rhythms, should be targeted in agriculture and crop breeding for higher yields and more sustainable farming.
Plants grow much better when their internal clock is matched to the environment they grow in. Alex Webb
Like humans, plants have an ‘internal clock’ that monitors the rhythms of their environment. The authors of a study published today say that now the genetic basis of this circadian system is well understood and there are improved genetic tools to modify it, the clock should be exploited in agriculture – a process they describe as ‘chronoculture’ – to contribute to global food security.
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Cambridge plant scientists say circadian clock genes, which enable plants to measure daily and seasonal rhythms, should be targeted in agriculture and crop breeding for higher yields and more sustainable farming.
Like humans, plants have an internal clock that monitors the rhythms of their environment. The authors of a study published today say that now the genetic basis of this circadian system is well understood and there are improved genetic tools to modify it, the clock should be exploited in agriculture - a process they describe as chronoculture - to contribute to global food security. We live on a rotating planet, and that has a huge impact on our biology - and on the biology of plants. We ve discovered that plants grow much better when their internal clock is matched to the environment they grow in, said Professor Alex Webb, Chair of Cell Signalling in the University of Cambridge s Department of Plant Sciences and senior author of the report.
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The FINANCIAL New mathematical model suggests that the easing of lockdown must be accompanied by wider and more effective use of control measures such as face masks even with vaccination, in order to suppress COVID-19 more quickly and reduce the likelihood of another lockdown.
The model, developed by scientists at the Universities of Liverpool and Cambridge, is published today in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. It uses mathematical equations to provide general insights about how COVID-19 will spread under different potential control scenarios, according to University of Liverpool.
Control measures involving face masks, handwashing and short-scale (1-2 metre) social distancing can all limit the number of virus particles being spread between people. These are termed ‘non spatial’ measures to distinguish them from a second category of ‘spatial’ control measures that include lockdown and travel restrictions, which reduce how far virus particles can
Social distancing and face mask rules must get stricter as lockdown rules ease
Dr Yevhen Suprunenko believes that measures such as face coverings, used properly alongside the vaccine rollout, could help to achieve a better outcome as lockdown rules ease
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