Using a computer model that illustrates how plants increase their thickness over time, biologists have discovered how cells get activated to form wood tissue. By decoding the genetic and molecular processes behind this growth, they aim to improve forestry techniques and enhance carbon dioxide storage in trees.
Using a computer model that illustrates how plants increase their thickness over time, biologists have discovered how cells get activated to form wood tissue. By decoding the genetic and molecular processes behind this growth, they aim to improve forestry techniques and CO2 storage in trees. This research, including contributions from Kirsten ten Tusscher of Utrecht University, is published in Science today.
While much research on plant stem cells tends to focus on the growing tips of roots and shoots, where height increases, Ten Tusscher points out that thickness growth is equally important. “Plants can’t continue growing upward indefinitely. They also need to gain thickness, or they would risk toppling over,” she notes. The thickening process is what gives older trees their greater girth and sturdiness over time, which is crucial for their structural integrity.
The plant’s cambium layer contains stem cells that manage this growth in width, generating wood that supports the plant’s framework. However, the exact genes that trigger these cambium stem cells to activate and the mechanisms behind this activation have remained uncertain until now.
Key Discoveries
Kirsten Ten Tusscher and her team developed a computer model that played a pivotal role in this collaborative international study, which included researchers from Utrecht University alongside scholars from the University of Helsinki, Durham University, and the University of California. This model offered critical insights, complementing lab findings from the other researchers while also providing valuable predictions.
Modeling Wood Development
The model created by Ten Tusscher investigates how particular genes activate cambium stem cells during plant development, enabling wood formation. Although genes related to height growth have been explored previously, this is the first model to focus on genes responsible for thickness growth and to identify the locations of their activation.
Based on the model’s findings, Ten Tusscher’s group discovered that thickness growth is regulated by overlapping gradients of specific chemical signals in the cambium layer. These gradients come together to establish a precise area where stem cells are activated, directing them to generate wood tissue. This interaction ensures a continuous process of wood formation throughout the plant’s lifespan, contributing to the necessary strength and stability to support growth in height.
Plant Model Used
The computer model focuses on the small plant Arabidopsis, which is widely used by biologists to understand more about plant growth overall. This model details how cambium stem cells are activated and sustained, promoting ongoing thickness growth over a plant’s entire life.
Enhancing Forestry and Carbon Storage
Grasping the mechanics of thickness growth is not just academic; it has practical implications for forestry and climate initiatives. Gaining insight into plant growth is especially pertinent for the forestry sector, particularly in Finland, where forests are economically significant, according to Ten Tusscher.
“A comprehensive understanding of plant growth could lead to creating trees that grow twice as thick, significantly benefiting a more sustainable timber industry,” asserts Ten Tusscher. “Additionally, it would bolster climate efforts since faster-growing trees can absorb more CO2. This knowledge might even assist researchers in optimizing thickness growth in crops to enhance agricultural productivity.”