Scientists say that if they can understand the uncontrolled growth of plants, they believe they can find a cure for cancer.
If scientists can fully understand plant growth, they may be able to find a cure for cancer
To increase agricultural yields, it is important to understand how plants process light. Plants use light to determine when to grow and flower. Plants detect light using proteins called photoreceptors. However, understanding plants has implications in fields other than agriculture. Ullas Pedmale, an assistant professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), and his colleagues discovered how the proteins UBP12 and UBP13 regulate the activity of the CRY2 photoreceptor. Their discovery could make evident new strategies for controlling growth, with potential implications far beyond agriculture.
CRY photoreceptors are found in both plants and humans. They are linked to a number of conditions, including diabetes, cancer and several brain diseases. CRY2 helps regulate growth in both humans and plants. Uncontrolled development of plants reduces their viability and causes cancer in humans. “If we understand growth,” Pedmail says, “we can cure cancer.”
Manipulation of CRY2 and UBP12 and UBP13 protein levels in Arabidopsis thaliana plants affects growth. The first plant on the left shows normal growth. The second plant lacked CRY2 and grew too large. The third plant lacked UBP12 and UBP13 and became shorter. The fourth plant has high levels of UBP12 and UBP13 and the fifth has high levels of CRY2. Credit: Pedmale lab/CSHL, 2022
Plants need the right amount of CRY2 to know when to grow and flower. Pedmail and former postdoctoral fellow Louise Lindbeck discovered that manipulating UBP12 and UBP13 can change the amount of CRY2 in plants. They found that increasing UBP12 and UBP13 reduced CRY2 levels. This makes the plants think that there is not enough light. In response, they grew longer, unusual stems to reach further. Pedmale says:
“We have a way to understand growth here—and we can manipulate growth just by manipulating two proteins. We have found a way that we can really increase flower production. You need blooms for food. If there is no flower, there is no grain, no rice, no wheat, no corn.
Pedmale and Lindbäck did not know exactly how UBP12 and UBP13 regulate CRY2. When the researchers took a closer look, they made a surprising discovery. In humans and other organisms, versions of UBP12 and UBP13 protect CRY photoreceptors from degradation. But in plants, the team saw the opposite. Instead, UBP12 and UBP13 actually helped degrade CRY2. Lindbeck, who is currently a research and development engineer at Nordic Biomarker in Sweden, explains:
“It is known from the literature that if you find an interaction like this, it will protect against degradation. At first we saw the opposite and thought “okay maybe I did something wrong” but then when I did it a few times we realized “okay this is true”. Instead of protecting CRY2, it causes CRY2 to deteriorate.
Pedmale hopes their discovery will help plant researchers and breeders improve yields. He also hopes his work will help inform cancer research. “My colleagues at CSHL are working hard trying to understand cancer,” he says. “We’re approaching it from a different angle with plants.”
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Reference: “UBP12 and UBP13 deubiquitinases destabilize the blue light receptor CRY2 to regulate Arabidopsis growth” by Louise N. Lindbäck, Yuzhao Hu, Amanda Ackermann, Oliver Artz, and Ullas V. Pedmale, 13 June 2022, Current Biology. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.05.046
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