An undergraduate class at Purdue University has discovered a key mechanism that keeps plants short. Graduate student Norman Best led the eight undergraduate students and identified a mutation that leads to small stature in the dwarfed Sunflower variety Sunspot.
The team identified a group of proteins containing an amino acid sequence that spells 'DELLA' as responsible for suppressing Sunspot's stem growth. When gibberellic acid, a plant growth hormone is perceived, it dislodges DELLA proteins from DNA and leads to stalk growth. Sunspot contains a mutated DELLA sequence in one of these proteins. Gibberellic acid is unable to remove the mutant protein, suppressing growth.
For more details, read the news release at Purdue University website.
Figure: Brian Dilkes (left), Purdue University associate professor of biochemistry, and his graduate student, Norman Best, led a class exercise that identified a mutation that keeps a certain sunflower variety short. (Purdue Agriculture Communication photo/Tom Campbel).
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