Plant biology discovery is 'like a switch between life and death'
Michigan State University researchers have made a discovery that could help turn a natural kill switch in plant cells into a “life switch” that helps crops better survive the challenges presented by climate change.
At its core, though, this is a fundamental finding, shared in the journal Nature Plants, that has implications across biology for how organisms respond to stress linked to overproduction of proteins by the cell.
“Life depends on the activity of an organelle called the endoplasmic reticulum, or ER,” said Federica Brandizzi, the leader of the laboratory that published the new finding.
Brandizzi is an MSU Distinguished Professor and MSU Research Foundation Professor in the Department of Plant Biology and the MSU-Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory.
