One of the proteins identified through a new ORNL-developed approach could be key to communications between poplar trees and beneficial microbes that can help boost poplar trees鈥� growth, carbon storage and climate resilience. Credit: Andy Sproles/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have identified specific proteins and amino acids that could control bioenergy plants鈥� ability to identify beneficial microbes that can enhance plant growth and storage of carbon in soils.
These proteins, called LysM receptor-like kinases, regulate signaling between plants and microbes, a process that influences biomass production, root performance and carbon storage. The showed these kinases potentially help poplar trees differentiate between helpful and disease-causing microbes.
With this information, scientists can better target bioengineering efforts aimed at promoting plant-microbe symbiosis to boost poplar trees鈥� growth and sustainability in future climates.
鈥淗aving predictive insight into how receptors distinguish microbial friend from foe will reduce the number of design-build-test cycles needed to validate gene function and accelerate improvement of crop performance,鈥� said ORNL鈥檚 Udaya Kalluri.
The novel method used computational structural biology in a multipronged approach that can accelerate gene function identification in a variety of plants.