A global collabora-tion research group found out what de-livers cytokinin from root and to stem and leaf, which facilitates growth. Professor Youngsook Lee (LIFE /IBB) led this research. Donghwi Ko (LIFE M.S.-Ph.D. Integrated), Takatoshi Kiba, and Hitoshi Sakakibara group of Rikagaku Kenkyusho in Japan and Enrico Martinoia of University of Zurich in Switzerland also participated in this research. They discovered “AtABCG14”, a transport protein that plays an important role in the delivery of cytokinin. In mutated Arabidopsis thaliana (a kind of plant) that cannot make the protein, cytokinin did not go to leaf actively so the mutated plant was much smaller than a normal plant. They also discovered if the protein is increased, the leaf grows fast. The results are expected to be used to control the growth of plants and finally to make biomass increase. (Biomass means all plants or organisms used for making energy.)
The result was published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences on Apr. 28.