USA: Tomatoes, the molecular trick to survive in extreme heat

Researchers at Brown University, in collaboration with the University of Arizona, have discovered the molecular mechanisms that make some tomato varieties more heat tolerant, potentially providing a strategy to protect crops from climate change. The study, published in Current Biology, focuses on the Tamaulipas variety of tomato, which shows enhanced growth under high temperatures. The research could lead to the development of a molecule to prime pollen to withstand heat, protecting tomato crops from reduced yields due to climate change. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Agriculture, and the National Institutes of Health.

Biologists at Brown University found what makes some types of tomatoes more heat tolerant, yielding insights that could help crops adapt to climate change. By studying tomato varieties that produce fruit in exceptionally hot growing seasons, biologists at Brown University identified the growth cycle phase when tomatoes are most vulnerable to extreme heat, as well as the molecular mechanisms that make the plants more heat tolerant. The discovery, detailed in a , could inform a key strategy to protect the food supply in the face of climate instability, the researchers said. Agricultural productivity is particularly vulnerable to climate change, the study noted, and rising temperatures are predicted to reduce crop yields by 2.5% to 16% for every additional 1 degree Celsius of seasonal warming. The scientists took some lessons from evolutioneta to experiment with how best to speed up the adaptation process for varieties of tomato plants, explained study author Sorel V. Yimga ...