A new study has revealed how some plants are so small and pack the same structures as larger species into a tiny space, making them ideal possible crops for the future.
Researchers at the University of Nottingham have carried out gene expression analysis and cutting-edge microscopy on duckweeds and shown that they retain the same basic building blocks found in the shoots of larger plants, but these structures have been dramatically compressed and fused together. The results have been published today in Current Biology.
Miniaturisation is a remarkable phenomenon found throughout the natural world, from tiny animals to miniature plants. Duckweeds are extraordinary flowering plants that can measure just a few millimetres across, yet their relatives include some of the largest herbaceous plants.
Dr Anthony Bishopp has led the study and explains: "We were interested to find out how a complete plant body plan can be packed into such a tiny space. While miniaturisation in animals is often associated with the loss of organs or body structures, we have revealed that duckweeds have taken a different route.
"What surprised us is that, when we looked closely, the basic organisation of the shoot was still there. Rather than throwing away parts of the blueprint, duckweed appears to have compressed and fused its components into an incredibly compact plant. That gives us a new way of thinking about how plants can evolve to become so small."
Duckweed research is advancing rapidly, driven by growing interest in these tiny plants as a potential source of food and novel protein on Earth, as well as a possible crop for future space missions. Unlike most of the crops we grow today, which have been shaped by thousands of years of domestication and selective breeding, the potential of duckweed remains largely unexplored. Even the basic architecture of the duckweed plant has remained something of a mystery. Understanding how its body is organised provides an essential framework for understanding how duckweed grows, develops and functions — and ultimately how its potential might be improved.
Dr Alex Ware, co-author of the study continues: "Duckweeds are astonishingly small, so it is tempting to think of them as either primitive plants or simply as having lost parts, but this is not the case. Our research adds to growing evidence from across the research community about this plant and will help efforts to turn them into a future crop'.
