Genetic control of drought responses
The idea of junk DNA has recently been called into question with the discovery of genetic control mechanisms such as long intergenic non-coding RNA (lincRNA). lincRNA molecules exert control over many growth and stress response pathways, but little is known about their role in plants and other photosynthesising organisms. With EU funding, the GREENLINCS (Functional roles of long noncoding RNAs in drought stress responses of Arabidopsis) project initiated a broad investigation of lincRNA molecules in Arabidopsis thaliana and Phaeodactylum tricornutum. These are model plant and diatom species, respectively. GREENLINCS started by identifying several hundred lincRNAs that are expressed differently under water-starved conditions. It also identified several lincRNAs that respond to very high or very low levels of phosphate, another common plant stressor. Researchers then looked at how the expression of these molecules changed based on the intensity of the stress. They found that for the most part lincRNAs were not expressed at all until the stress occurred. The results of the GREENLINCS study provide new knowledge on the role of lincRNAs in photosynthetic organisms. The project has provided researchers with novel candidate genes for genetically engineered drought-tolerant crops.
