Sunflowers famously turn their faces to follow the sun as it crosses the sky. But how do sunflowers 'see' the sun to follow it? Plant biologists show that they use a different, novel mechanism from that previously thought.
Sunflowers famously turn their faces to follow the sun as it crosses the sky. But how do sunflowers"see" the sun to follow it? New work from plant biologists at the University of California, Davis, published Oct. 31 in"This was a total surprise for us," said Stacey Harmer, professor of plant biology at UC Davis and senior author on the paper.
In the new study, graduate student Christopher Brooks, postdoctoral researcher Hagatop Atamian and Harmer looked at which genes were switched on in sunflowers grown indoors in laboratory growth chambers, and in sunflowers growing in sunlight outdoors. Sunflowers are quick learners. When plants grown in the lab were moved outdoors, they started tracking the sun on the first day, Harmer said. That behavior was accompanied by a burst of gene expression on the shaded side of the plant that did not recur on subsequent days. That suggests some kind of"rewiring" is going on, she said.
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