Epigenetic Memories of Plants Aid Adaption to Climate Change

Image Source: https://www.azocleantech.com/

Epigenetic Memories of Plants Aid Adaption to Climate Change

Epigenetic Memories of Plants Aid Adaption to Climate Change

Source: https://www.azocleantech.com/news.aspx?newsID=32612

A study performed has elaborately shown how plants are quickly getting adapted to the harmful effects of climate change, and how they are giving off these adaptations to their offspring. Since plants do not consist of neural networks, their memory depends completely on molecular, cellular, and biochemical networks. Such networks fabricate what the scientists named somatic memory. Martinelli stated, “These mechanisms allow plants to recognize the occurrence of a previous environmental condition and to react more promptly in presence of the same consequential condition.” Further, these somatic memories could be passed to the plants’ progeny through epigenetics. Martinelli added, “In this peer-reviewed opinion piece, we provide several examples that demonstrate the existence of molecular mechanisms modulating plant memory to environmental stresses and affecting the adaptation of offspring to these stresses.” Moving forward, Martinelli and his collaborators hope to comprehend more in detail regarding the genes that are being passed down. Martinelli stated, “We are particularly interested in decoding the epigenetic alphabet underlying all the modifications of the genetic material caused by the environment, without changes in DNA sequence. This is especially important when we consider the rapid climate change we observe today that every living organism, including plants, needs to quickly adapt to in order to survive.”