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Scientists find protein enhancing plant growth during drought

Xinhua, August 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

A major research institute in Taiwan announced the discovery of a novel protein, AFL1, that promotes continued plant growth when water is limited.

Dr. Paul Verslues, associate research fellow with Academia Sinica, found that AFL1, when overexpressed in a strain of the mustard plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, greatly increased plant growth - even under drought stress.

Most plant proteins, if overexpressed in a plant, tend to inhibit growth when water is sufficient, Dr. Verslues said during his announcement Thursday.

"But AFL1 does not, which opens up new directions in plant stress research," he said.

The next step is to test whether a similar effect of increased AFL1 expression on drought resistance can be seen in other plants and unlock the potential to use the protein in plant biotechnology, according to his research team ,including research fellows M. Nagaraj Kumar and Hsieh Yi-fang.

Hsieh said the team will continue to understand AFL1 as how it works and why it affects drought tolerance, which can help find more genes to test for biotechnology application. Endi