More mothers worldwide may soon be able to order their children to finish their vegetables, as Dartmouth biology researchers have identified a plant gene that is key to growing healthy and nutritious plants. The discovery furthers scientists' understanding of how plants use iron, especially in iron-deficient soil.
According to Jeeyon Jeong, a graduate student in the biological sciences department and co-author of the study, photosynthesis, the process through which plants produce their own food using light energy, requires iron. The research team gathered molecular evidence to show that the gene FR07 is involved in regulating chloroplast iron activation, which is required for efficient photosynthesis.
Mary Lou Guerinot, professor of biology and principal researcher on the study, said the study was part of her lab's larger goal to understand how plants absorb essential minerals such as iron. Increasing the ability of plants to take up these minerals, she said, makes the plant itself healthier and also makes the plant a more beneficial food source.
"Extreme poverty continues to limit access to much of the world's population to food," Guerinot told The Dartmouth in an email. "It is important that affordable food be as nutritious as possible."
Over three billion people in the world suffer from iron deficiency, Gueirnot said, explaining that plants are the major source of iron in most people's diets.
Iron is also important in growing plants, Jeong said, adding that about one-third of the soil worldwide is deficient in iron. She explained that as the discovery of this gene will help the scientific community understand how iron and chloroplasts work together, it may provide a basis for future work that seeks to develop methods for growing food crops in iron-deficient areas.
"This finding might some day help scientists develop plants that grow better and can serve as more nutritious food," Guerinot said in a statement to the Office of Public Affairs.
Guerinot said her lab will continue to work to understand the network of genes involved in integrating information about iron levels in a plant. Researchers in the lab are now focusing on another FRO gene involved in localizing to mitochondria, the part of the plant cells that provide energy to the organism.
The paper will appear in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science for the week of July 21 with the title "Chloroplast Fe(III) chelate reductase activity is essential for seedling variability under iron limiting conditions." Co-authors of this paper from other universities include Erin Connolly and Loubna Kerkeb at the University of South Carolina, and Marinus Pilon and Chris Cohu at Colorado State University.
The study was funded by grants from the National Science Foundation.
