Frequentdroughts, fires, and floodings have been on the rise worldwide
as consequences of climate change. Floods cause major losses in
agriculture with 15 percent of global crop losses being due to flooding.

A collaboration between researchers from the University of Freiburg,
Utrecht University, Rothamsted Research, and the University of
California, Riverside have discovered a signaling molecule that can make
plants more resistant to flooding. The research team found that the
gaseous plant hormone ethylene causes the plant to switch on a kind of
molecular emergency power system that helps it survive the lack of
oxygen during flooding.

The team had previously demonstrated that ethylene sends a signal to the
plant that it is underwater. They found that pretreating the
experimental plants with ethylene improved their chances of survival.
The results, which appeared in the journal/Plant Physiology/, should
help to combat waterlogging and flooding in agriculture and, for
example, to develop resistant plant varieties.

[kommunikation.uni-freiburg.de]