Much of what we know about plant circadian rhythms is the result of laboratory experiments where inputs such as light and temperature can be tightly controlled. Less is known about how these biological timing mechanisms operate in the more unpredictable natural world where they evolved to align living things to daily and seasonal cycles. A pioneering collaborative study between UK and Japanese researchers has helped redress the balance with a series of innovative field experiments that show how plants combine clock signals with environmental cues under naturally fluctuating conditions.
This research team from the John Innes Centre, Kyoto University, and The Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge, have produced statistical models based on these field-based studies that could help us predict how plants, major crops among them, might respond to future temperatures. "Our research highlights the value of international collaboration in cross-disciplinary scientific progress," said senior author Professor Antony Dodd, a group leader at the John Innes Centre. "It is fascinating to see how processes we have identified in the lab also work to influence plants under natural conditions.
" Professor Hiroshi Kudoh from Kyoto University said, "Any living system has evolved in the context of its natural habitat. A great deal of work lies ahead to assess the function of genetic systems under natural conditions. This study was designed as one of the beginnings of such an endeavor.
" A previous study by.