Biologists discover an 'evening' protein complex that regulates plant growth

EurekaAlert
July 13, 2011
University of California - San Diego

Farmers and other astute observers of nature have long known that crops like corn and sorghum grow taller at night. But the biochemical mechanisms that control this nightly stem elongation, common to most plants, have been something of a mystery to biologists—until now.

In this week's early online publication of the journal Nature, biologists at the University of California, San Diego report their discovery of a protein complex they call the "evening complex" that regulates the rhythmic growth of plants during the night. More importantly, the biologists show how this protein complex is intricately coordinated through the biological clock with the genes that promote stem elongation in a way that could enable plant breeders to engineer new varieties of crops that grow faster, produce greater yields of food or generate more biomass per acre of land for conversion into biofuels.

"This discovery gives us a molecular understanding of how the biological clock is regulating cyclic growth in plants," said Steve Kay, dean of UC San Diego's Division of Biological Sciences, who headed the research effort. "And it instantly gives us a handle on how we might manipulate and control plant yield or biomass deposition."

Read more