Perhaps you will have to be jealous when you know that plants have a certain kind of genes to fight heat

Japanese scientists have discovered a special gene in plants that helps them withstand intense heat.

In sunny summer days like fire, no one wants to stand outside for even a minute. It is no different from a torture for our species.

What about trees? They didn't even have a choice, except to expose themselves to the sun and the wind.

Plants have a heat-resistant mechanism of their own.

Imagine you are a tomato plant. No matter how hot the sun is, you can't step into a shady place. The leaves will no longer be green due to damage to the chloroplast membrane. If you do not change to adapt, you will be defeated by the weather.

Fortunately, that phenomenon will not happen, at least for a short time. According to a recent study, plants have an anti-heat mechanism , by regulating the fat of the plant - the component that makes up chloroplasts. When the temperature increases, the chloroplast membrane becomes unstable, PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acid) will be released from the lipid membrane to participate in membrane stabilization.

And scientists have found the gene that determines this process.

"We have assumed that the decrease in chloroplast lipids is controlled by a temperature-sensitive gene," explained Yasuhiro Higashi, a member of the research team.

"We rely on the data warehouse to identify this gene, predict how it works and detect similar genes in other species."

They also discovered mutant plants that are more sensitive to temperature , meaning they are more difficult to adapt to high temperatures and have a lower likelihood of survival. Experiments were conducted on Arabidopsis, a species of the mustard family commonly used in plant studies.

Ordinary trees and mutant plants (right).

Dr. Kazuki Saito, the project leader believes in the usefulness that the work of his team brings.

"Natural touch with temperature in plants is not a new discovery. But understanding that mechanism will help us come up with measures to counteract the impact of".

"Our research is contributing to the United Nations Development Goals 2015 (STG) in articles 2 and 13 - eliminating hunger and fighting".

The study was published in the scientific journal The Plant Cell.