December 2022: Profiling of barley and tomato unravels variations in photoperiodic sensitivity

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We have selected the PLOS ONE Research Article on Transcriptome profiling of barley and tomato and its connection to physiological variations for photoperiodic sensitivity as the featured study for this month. We hope you enjoy reading our selected study and please stay safe and healthy! Best, PhotosynQ Team

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265981

Transcriptome profiling of barley and tomato shoot and root meristems unravels physiological variations underlying photoperiodic sensitivity

Michael Schneider, Lucia Vedder, Benedict Chijioke Oyiga, Boby Mathew, Heiko Schoof,Jens Léon and Ali Ahmad Naz

As Minoli et al. (2022)* noted in their paper, climate changes have affected global crop yields. To circumvent the losses incurred from these shifting conditions, some growers are changing their growing methods.

In temperate regions, the average sowing date is shifted by several days to take the advantage of increasing temperatures. However, this changes the photoperiod regime at the emergence stage, causing a significant change in gene expression and physiological responses and ultimately also possibly decreasing yield levels.

In our featured study, Shneider and the collaborators carried out physiological assessments and transcriptome profiling of the tissues of barley (photoperiod sensitive) and tomato (photoperiod insensitive) seedlings to study these effects.

Sheneider et al. used MultispeQ to measure the relative chlorophyll content values in their physiological assessment.

Figure 1. Relative chlorophyll content assessed by MultispeQ V 2.0 of barley (cultivar Scarlett) and tomato (cultivar Moneymaker) in two different photoperiods (8h, 16h day light).

The data distributions shown above demonstrate that the relative chlorophyll content in photoperiod sensitive barley is significantly affected by the changing photoperiods, showing that this switch in growing techniques may benefit certain photosensitive plants such as Barley.

In conducting the molecular and physiological studies related to climate change, MultispeQ provides a convenient option to researchers to quickly and efficiently assess photosynthesis in changing conditions and practices.

* Minoli, S., Jägermeyr, J., Asseng, S., Urfels, A. and Müller, C., 2022. Global crop yields can be lifted by timely adaptation of growing periods to climate change. Nature Communications, 13(1), pp.1-10.