You won’t be-LEAF my tan!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
The right amount of sunbathing can make you feel refreshed and energized. And plants …tend to agree. Tanning tips for crops?
Long leaves angled upwards allow plants to collect more energy from the sun. In rice, this yields more and better quality grains! But, how do these leaves change their angle?
Enter Seonghoe Jang from the World Vegetable Center in Korea.
They found that rice leaf angle is affected by a gene called OsBCL! This gene aids in plant growth. Rice with their OsBCL genes activated raised their leaf angle higher by seventy-two degrees!
This discovery is paving the way for stronger, more productive crops!
This rice is… un-be-LEAF-able!
Reference: Jang S, Cho JY, Do GR, Kang Y, Li HY, Song J, Kim HY, Kim BG, Hsing YI. Modulation of Rice Leaf Angle and Grain Size by Expressing OsBCL1 and OsBCL2 under the Control of OsBUL1 Promoter. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Jul 21;22(15):7792. doi: 10.3390/ijms22157792. PMID: 34360554; PMCID: PMC8346013