University of Mississippi researchers are studying how plants respond to heat at the molecular level, an important consideration for farmers, businesses and policymakers as global temperatures rise.
In a study published in Nature Communications, Ole Miss researchers investigated the internal structures plants rely on to adjust how they grow and survive in warm temperatures.
"Plants are the foundation of our food system, but unlike animals, they cannot relocate to escape high-temperature conditions," said Haibo Xiong, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biology and co-author of the study. "As global temperatures continue to rise, understanding how plants respond to warmer conditions is essential for ensuring stable crop production and food security.
"If we understand how plants sense and adapt to elevated temperatures, we can better predict these changes and develop strategies to maintain crop productivity in a changing climate."
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration charted 2024 as the warmest year on record since data collection began in 1850, and 2025 as the third-warmest. As temperatures continue to increase, biologists need to understand how plants respond to temperature to make them more heat-resistant.
Yongjian Qiu, associate professor of biology, along with Xiong and three graduate research assistants in biology, Abhishesh Bajracharya, Ranjeeta Odari and Anupa Wasti, spent five years examining how plants adapt in warmer settings.
Plants respond in multiple ways to increasing temperatures, such as elongating their stems, flowering early and tilting their leaves toward the sky to funnel away heat.
"From the agricultural perspective, for cereal crops and vegetables, you may or may not like this response," Qiu said. "Is stem elongation a good thing for farmers? Maybe not, because if there's strong wind or rain, it's very easy for a longer stem to fall down.
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