Associate Professor Yuya Fukano of Chiba University's Graduate School of Horticulture and Associate Professor Wataru Yamori of the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences have discovered that the high-temperature stress caused by urban heat islands causes the leaves of oxalis to evolve red and acquire high-temperature tolerance. , was discovered by a joint research group including Assistant Professor Kei Uchida, Assistant Professor Yuya Tachiki of the Graduate School of Science, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Kenta Shirasawa, Director of the Plant Genome and Genetics Laboratory at the Kazusa DNA Research Institute, and Researcher Mitsuhiko Sato.
The research group focused on the fact that Oxalis, a wild plant that grows in farmlands and cities across Japan, not only has normal green leaves, but also some that have red leaves that are resistant to high temperatures. I checked to see if it had any leaves.
As a result, they found that red leaves are more common in urban areas than in green areas such as lawns and farmland.Although the lawn of the park and the house were only a few dozen meters apart, the grass was green and the house had red-leaved oxalis growing there.
Furthermore, when Oxalis was grown at a high temperature of 35 degrees Celsius and at a normal temperature of 25 degrees Celsius, photosynthesis in the red leaves was active at 35 degrees Celsius, but at 25 degrees the green leaves were active.As a result of estimating the evolutionary process of red leaves using population genetic methods, we found that Oxalis did not evolve into red leaves and spread all over Tokyo all at once, but the evolution from green to red occurred many times in various places. was suggested.
According to Chiba University, the Kazusa DNA Research Institute is currently implementing the ``Oxalis Project'', an open science project with citizen participation.Researchers and citizens will work together to explore the genetic background of the evolution of red leaves and elucidate the adaptation to high temperatures occurring in urban weeds. Participants are being sought.
Paper information:[Science Advances] From green to red: Urban heat stress drives leaf color evolution
reference:[Kazusa DNA Research Institute] Everyone’s Oxalis Project with Kazusa ~What color is it in your town?~
