A study led by the University of East Anglia (UEA) is the first to reveal how plants make an "anti-stress" molecule called dimethylsulfoniopropionate, or DMSP.
It shows that while most plants make DMSP, high-level production of this molecule allows plants to grow under stress, for example in salty conditions at the coast.
Researchers studied a species of saltmarsh cordgrass - Spartina anglica - which produces high levels of DMSP, and then compared its genes with those from other plants that mainly........