Here we report that the external application of acetate enhances the drought tolerance in all plant species tested (Arabidopsis, maize, rapeseed, rice and wheat). We discovered a novel drought tolerance mechanism in plants involving acetate-jasmonate signaling pathway that is regulated epigenetically and conserved in plants. We expect that external application of acetate to plants will be a useful, simple, and cheap way to enhance drought tolerance in a variety of plants.
Program Information
JST CREST
Research Area “Creation of essential technologies to utilize carbon dioxide as a resource through the enhancement of plant productivity and the exploitation of plant products”
Research Theme “Enhancement of Environmental Stress Adaptation and Production of Useful Biomass through Understanding of Epigenome Regulatory Networks in Plants”
Journal Information
Jong-Myong Kim, Taiko Kim To, Akihiro Matsui, Keitaro Tanoi, Natsuko I. Kobayashi, Fumio Matsuda, Yoshiki Habu, Daisuke Ogawa, Takuya Sakamoto, Sachihiro Matsunaga, Khurram Bashir, Sultana Rasheed, Marina Ando, Hiroko Takeda, Kanako Kawaura, Miyako Kusano, Atsushi Fukushima, Takaho A. Endo, Takashi Kuromori, Junko Ishida, Taeko Morosawa, Maho Tanaka, Chieko Torii, Yumiko Takebayashi, Hitoshi Sakakibara, Yasunari Ogihara, Kazuki Saito, Kazuo Shinozaki, Alessandra Devoto and Motoaki Seki. “Acetate-mediated novel survival strategy against drought in plants”, Nature Plants, Published online June 26, 2017, doi: 10.1038/nplants.2017.97.
Contact
[About Research]
Motoaki Seki, Ph.D.
Team Leader, Plant Genomic Network Research Team, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science
E-mail: 
URL: http://www.csrs.riken.jp/en/labs/pgnrt/index.html
Jong-Myong Kim, Ph.D.
Research Scientist, Plant Genomic Network Research Team, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science
E-mail: 
[About Program]
Tetsu Kawaguchi
Life Innovation Group, Department of Innovation Research, JST
E-mail: 