“Just like Barbapapa, the plant can adapt perfectly to conditions.”

Rashmi Sasidharan, 43, suffered from diabetes throughout her childhood and schooling. plant blindnessA condition created 25 years ago by two American botanists and defined as: “the inability to see and appreciate the beauty, importance and unique biological properties of plants, and the tendency to regard them as inferior to animals.” In short, this is a condition that almost everyone suffers from – because we all sometimes walk through a forest or across a lawn without seeing it as more than just a green background?

What makes Sasidharan’s case so exceptional is that she was recently installed as a professor plant stress resistance At Utrecht University. On June 13, she gave her inaugural lecture – and hope plant blindness He can also heal others. “Plants are really amazing if you take the time to get to know them.”

The blind plant man became a professor of plants. how is that possible?

“During my studies in biochemistry, I found plants very boring. I grew up in Kerala, a coastal state in southern India famous for its coconut palms – but I had no interest in these trees. I preferred to be in the lab. Until I got the opportunity to do a PhD in Calgary, Canada. During my studies, I worked a lot on enzymes and this position was about enzymes in the cell walls of plants and I really wanted to spread my wings and get away from India… I told my supervisor that I knew nothing about plants. That reassured me: if you know what a plant is, that’s enough.

“But once I got my PhD, I became more and more interested in the whole plant. I did research on the response to sunlight and shade. Stellaria longA flower from the clove family. So at first I just looked at the enzymes that cause plants to respond to changes in sunlight, but during fieldwork in the Rocky Mountains, I quickly became amazed by the countless ways plants respond to their environment. They are not at all passive creatures as is often thought. I prefer to compare them to the cartoon character Barbabas. “It also adapts perfectly to the conditions.”

They can distinguish between the shadow of a nearby intruding flower or the temporary shadow of a passing cloud.

So what are the properties of barbapapa that plants have?

“Take this reaction to sunlight. However, it is surprising how plants compete with each other for sunlight, as the shaded individual develops longer stems and fewer leaves to grow faster toward the light. But within a single species this can appear Completely different from individuals Stellaria longa For example, those growing in the prairie and accustomed to competing with many others of the same species can distinguish between the shadow of a neighboring, intrusive flower or the temporary shadow of a passing cloud. Their counterparts growing in more mountainous areas cannot do this, because they are much closer together and there is no need for it.

“After my PhD, I started studying the response of plants to a lot of water. Because they also develop wonderful tricks to survive in flood zones.

How does a plant know when it is flooded?

“In fact, such a plant then suffocates. It can’t CO properly anymore₂ And the exchange of oxygen, which impedes respiration and photosynthesis. In addition, the plant hormone ethylene acts as a warning of flooding. Once the plant is short of breath, the amount of ethylene increases rapidly. The hormone ensures that the plant’s survival strategies are activated. This causes the leaves to turn yellow and die—the older, outer leaves first. At first, this seems like a flaw. But the meristem, a group of cells in the stem and root tips from which new plant tissue can be formed, remains intact for as long as possible. Meanwhile, sugars from the wilted leaves can serve as nutrients for the meristem. The entire plant will die only if the flooding continues for a long time. Unless that plant still has a trick up its sleeve and can handle the water.

Do all underwater plants react the same way?

“Absolutely not. This is clear only by comparing two types of sorrel, Romex palustris And Rumex acetozaBoth can be encountered in the Netherlands. The first type grows faster in the air during floods and causes some of its cells to die. The air cavities that are created as a result, known as aerials, act like snorkels. Rumex acetoza It adopts a wait-and-see strategy and stops growing until the flood is over. These different strategies are also related to where they grow. Romex palustris It is often flooded, Romex acetoza It grows taller and suffers only during rare major floods when no branch can help anyway.

Take rice. For a long time, the focus was on growing the most productive varieties, but they were often at risk.

Why is it important to research submerged plants?

“First of all, climate change makes it a more important issue. Flooding will happen more often. That’s also interesting about garden cress, Arabidopsis thaliana plantWhich is often used by botanists as a “model plant.” In principle, this almost never happens; the species simply grows on the pavement. My colleagues thought it was strange that I was also curious about this plant’s flooding strategies. It was thought that Arabidopsis had no trick in high water. But that turned out to be wrong: the plant also temporarily cuts off its power when it gets flooded. Now it turns out that this is not an unnecessary luxury, because with the current amount of rainfall, even the thallus sometimes disappears.

“Flood research is also important because it is directly linked to our food supply. Many agricultural crops are far from waterproof, and this can be a major problem due to increased flooding. From an agricultural perspective, plant survival is not enough: we want it too.” To continue providing food.

How can botanists contribute to this?

“Take rice. For a long time, the focus was on growing the most productive varieties, but they were often vulnerable to climate change. There is now frequent hybridization with flood-resistant varieties, and there is also greater interest in so-called deep-water rice that grows in Vietnam. It can survive It is in water at a depth of 7 meters and is harvested from boats.

“Diversity is the key word. This also applies to science. Interdisciplinary research is essential for key topics like food. In fact, as scientists we ourselves are one big Barbapapa family, each with its own tricks.

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