(BBSRC DTP) Optimising plant growth in fluctuating environments

Increasing crop yields, to feed the growing human population, whilst at the same time mitigating the effect of increasingly unpredictable climates, is the greatest challenge facing humanity in the 21st century, described by Sir John Sulston as “the perfect storm”. There is an urgent need to identify novel traits for improvement in plants which both enhance productivity and increase stress tolerance. The difficulty is that these different needs can operate in opposition to one another.

Photosynthesis has been identified as an important target for improvement of both yield and stress tolerance. Two aspects of this have been identified as important determinants of yield in natural environment. Non photochemical quenching (NPQ) is a protective process, which allows plants to dissipate excess energy, avoiding photodamage is an important determinant of plant yield in fluctuating environments [1], but is considered to be sub-optimal in many crop species [2]. Photoacclimation is a process which allows plants to optimise their investment in different physiological processes. We have shown that the ability to acclimate accounts for up to 50% of plant yield [3, 4]. These two processes bring both benefits and costs – NPQ makes photosynthesis inefficient, whilst photoacclimation requires a significant investment of resources. The balance between them and its impact on crop yields has not been explored

In this project, you will examine the cost-benefit relationships of NPQ and photoacclimation across different environmental conditions in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana. The project will provide you with training in plant environmental physiology and molecular biology and in soil biology. The impact of different soil types, providing different levels of nutrition, will be examined using growth analysis, measurements of photosynthesis using non-invasive in vivo technologies, and biochemical analysis of plant tissues. Plants with altered capacity for both NPQ and photoacclimation will be generated using genetic modification. The performance of plants will be assessed in the context of different soil conditions, with analysis being undertaken of soil properties. Analysis of results will be undertaken in collaboration with mathematicians, using modelling approaches. At the end of this project, you will have made a substantive contribution to our understanding of the regulation of photosynthesis and be in a position to identify optimal strategies for breeding improved crops.

https://personalpages.manchester.ac.uk/staff/giles.johnson/
https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/franciska.devries.html
https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/Patrick.G.Gallois.html