Now pineapple’s genetic secret has been revealed by scientists.
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“Our analysis indicates that the pineapple genome has one fewer whole genome duplication than the grasses that share an ancestor with pineapple, making pineapple the best comparison group for the study of cereal crop genomes”, explained team leader Prof Ray Ming, of the University of Illinois. This makes them an extremely important fruit to the world economy, and one worth protecting, especially as threats like global warming loom large. This type of photosynthesis has evolved mostly in plants that do not use a lot of water in order to survive. CAM plants are also capable of thriving in arid, marginal areas where most other plants would not be able to survive in.
A team of researchers from different scientific institutions have successfully sequenced the pineapple genome in order to study the genes that allow the plant to exist in areas with little water, a recent study in Nature Genetics reports. The findings also shed light on the evolutionary history of grasses that share a common ancestor with the pineapple.
Pineapple cultivation started over 6,000 years ago, and originated in what is now southwest Brazil and northeast Paraguay, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign reported.
Approximately 25 million metric tons of pineapples are produced on an annual basis, generating revenues exceeding $8 billion.
Like many plants, the ancestors of pineapple and grasses experienced multiple doublings of their genomes.
Pineapple genome sequence can help develop new crops resistant to climate change.
Photosynthesis converts solar energy to chemical energy, allowing plants to build the tissues that sustain life on Earth.
The vast majority of crop plants, such as barley, wheat or rice, use C3 carbon fixation, and require moderate sun exposure and temperature values, plenty of water, and carbon dioxide concentrations of at least 200 ppm.
Plants using CAM photosynthesis use anywhere from 20 to 80 percent less water that plants using C3 photosynthesis, the type used by most crop plants.
Another critical aspect that makes up the pineapple’s unique genome is the existence of its circadian clock genes, which are responsible for governing the plant’s photosynthesis genes and give a plant the ability to distinguish between day and night and adjust its metabolism in accordance to that information.
“This is the first time scientists have found a link between regulatory elements of CAM photosynthesis genes and circadian clock regulation”, Prof.
“This makes sense, because CAM photosynthesis allows plants to close the pores in their leaves during the day and open them at night”.
Ming added that the trait contributes to the resilience of the pineapple in harsh climates, allowing the plant to lose only small amounts of moisture through its leaves during daytime.
Plant molecular biologist Qingyi Yu of the Texas A&M AgriLife Research Center at Dallas, said, “As such, CAM photosynthesis applications can benefit the entire food industry to a great extent”.
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In fact, it is hoped that C3 carbon fixation plants could be modified, so that they can employ CAM photosynthesis instead.
