Current Biology<\/a>, focuses on mangrove trees\u2014plants that grow along tropical and subtropical coastal areas where saltwater is abundant.<\/p>\n\u201cThis work reveals that just a few simple cell traits are critical to tolerating the extreme conditions experienced by some of the most distinctive and resilient plants in the world,\u201d says Adam Roddy, an assistant professor in New York University\u2019s environmental studies department and one of the paper\u2019s authors.<\/p>\n
The ability of mangroves\u2014which have evolved nearly 30 times over the last roughly 200 million years\u2014to survive in saltwater is well-known. But it\u2019s been unclear what in mangroves\u2019 cellular makeup explains their durability in these conditions.<\/p>\n
To explore this matter, the research team, which also included scientists from Guangxi University, Florida International University, and San Francisco State University, analyzed 34 mangroves species and more than 30 closely related organisms across 17 plant families. The analysis, which also considered how these species have evolved over time, included both coastal and inland species.<\/p>\n
The results showed that, compared to their inland relatives, mangroves have unusually small cells and thicker cell walls, which together provide the greater mechanical strength needed to tolerate saltwater while also preventing wilting. More specifically, species that are able to live in saline coastal habitats have repeatedly evolved smaller, stronger cells.<\/p>\n
\u201cMangroves are known for exhibiting a variety of interesting and complex adaptations to saltwater inundation, such as excluding large amounts of salt from their tissues or even taking up salt but then secreting it,\u201d explains coauthor Guo-Feng Jiang of Guanxi University.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile each of these various adaptations is fascinating, studying the breadth of biodiversity often reveals that nature offers simple solutions to complex challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese results also point to a promising strategy to engineering salt-tolerant plants: manipulating cell size and cell wall properties,\u201d adds Roddy.<\/p>\n
This research was supported by grants from the US National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n
Source: NYU<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Share this Article You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license. Researchers have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[18,19,17,7262,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-249806","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-plants","12":"tag-science"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115776561188998480","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}