'To the roots of the matter' part 1: Rashmi’s stress-resilient plants
Visual stories about plant research at Utrecht University
The visual series 'To the roots of the matter' presents stories from the Utrecht University plant labs. The first episode focuses on Professor Rashmi Sasidharan’s research on stress-resilient plants.
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Do you want to know more about Rashmi's research? Then read this article about her appointment as professor or check out her profile page.
Text version
Water plays an essential role in plant survival, yet too much water can be detrimental to many plants. Now global warming is causing excessive rainfall, which leads to floods and crop loss. Professor Rashmi Sasidharan wants to understand why too much water can harm or even kill plants and how plants sense and react to this stress. Her research reveals, for instance, that in flooded plants levels of the hormone ethylene increase. This acts as a warning signal for plants to activate survival responses. In some plant species this leads to accelerated leaf growth, which helps them emerge from the water. Rashmi's ultimate goal is to create "waterproof" plants that can thrive in the face of climate-related challenges.