By Blake Jackson
Plant scientist Ron Mittler at the University of Missouri is encouraging researchers to rethink traditional approaches to studying biological stress by examining how living organisms respond to multiple environmental challenges occurring simultaneously, according to Brian Consiglio at the University of Missouri.
For decades, scientists have investigated stress factors individually under controlled laboratory conditions. However, plants and other organisms in natural environments often experience several challenges at once, including drought, extreme heat, intense sunlight, flooding, soil salinity, and pollution.
Mittler’s research highlights how combinations of stressors can produce biological responses that differ significantly from those triggered by individual factors. Earlier this year, his team exposed a model plant to excessive heat, intense sunlight, and salty soil simultaneously.
The plant’s survival depended on a protein called bHLH35. Plants without the protein died under the combined conditions, while those with additional bHLH35 remained healthier.
The protein did not provide the same protective effect when plants experienced each stressor separately, demonstrating the importance of studying multiple environmental pressures together.
In a commentary published in Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, Mittler and his colleagues called for research methods that better represent the complex conditions organisms encounter outside laboratories.
“If one protein responds to a certain stressor, let’s say intense heat, and another protein responds to a different stressor, let’s say intense sunlight, you might think both proteins get activated if those two stressors hit the plant at the same time,” Mittler, a Curators’ Distinguished Professor in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, said.
“But we are learning the combination of stressors simultaneously can trigger a specific biological response that does not occur with either stress alone. In other words, the biological response to A+B can be fundamentally different from the responses to A and B individually.”
The findings could eventually inform research into environmental protection, biodiversity, and human medicine. Scientists may gain new insights into how pollution, pesticides, microplastics, and changing weather conditions affect ecosystems.
The research could also help improve understanding of combination drug treatments for cancer and bacterial infections.
“Our lab’s previous research has shown that once an organism gets hit with four or five stressors simultaneously, the health of the organism starts to deteriorate dramatically,” Mittler, an investigator in the Bond Life Sciences Center, said.
“Perhaps we can use that knowledge to our advantage when it comes to treating cancer or bacterial infections. If a combination of two or three drugs is not proving to be effective, perhaps a combination of four or five drugs given at extremely small doses can be more effective without causing side effects or harm to healthy cells.”
Although studying multiple stressors increases experimental complexity, Mittler believes artificial intelligence and advanced analytical tools could help researchers interpret large datasets more efficiently.
His collaborations with field scientists at Mizzou have also provided valuable perspectives on how crops respond to real-world conditions.
The commentary, titled “A call for studying the impact of multiple stressors on biological systems,” advocates research approaches that better reflect the complexity of living environments.
Photo Credit: istock-pkujiahe
Categories: Missouri, Crops