Research groups at Nagoya University and Hiroshima University have shown that sweet potatoes may be able to grow in lean lands by controlling the rhizosphere's microbial fauna.
Sweet potatoes are known as "famine crops" that grow on lean lands, but it is not clear why they can grow healthy on lean lands.On the other hand, in recent years, a gene derived from the pathogen Agrobacterium has been found in the genome of sweet potato.Agrobacterium has the ability to integrate its genes into the genome of plants during the process of infection, and it is estimated that Agrobacterium infection of sweet potato ancestors occurred approximately 130 to 150 million years ago. It is said that the gene derived from Agrobacterium introduced at this time remains in all sweet potato cultivated species in the world today.However, it was not clear why sweet potatoes continue to carry genes that were once acquired from pathogens.
Therefore, in this study, as a result of aiming to elucidate the function of the Agrobacterium-derived gene maintained by sweet potatoes, we arrived at a part of the mystery that sweet potatoes can grow even in lean land.Among the genes derived from Agrobacterium, it was discovered that agrosinopine A produced by the IbACS gene significantly changes the microbiota of the rhizosphere.In other words, the IbACS gene has the function of attracting specific microorganisms in the soil by producing agrosinopin A, and it is possible that the control of this soil microbial fauna is the key to the growth of sweet potatoes in lean land. There is.
Next, the goal is to search for microorganisms that promote the growth of sweet potatoes by comparing the rhizosphere microbiota of normal sweet potatoes and sweet potatoes lacking the IbACS gene.If such a useful microorganism is discovered, it is expected that it can be widely applied to agricultural production.
