Hydrogen sulfide greatly enhances plant growth: Key ingredient in mass extinctions could boost food, biofuel production

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Hydrogen Sulfide Greatly Enhances Plant Growth: Key
Ingredient in Mass Extinctions Could Boost Food, Biofuel
Production

Science Daily

Apr. 17, 2013 — Hydrogen sulfide, the pungent stuff often
referred to as sewer gas, is a deadly substance
implicated in several mass extinctions, including one at
the end of the Permian period 251 million years ago that
wiped out more than three-quarters of all species on
Earth.

But in low doses, hydrogen sulfide could greatly enhance
plant growth, leading to a sharp increase in global food
supplies and plentiful stock for biofuel production, new
University of Washington research shows.

"We found some very interesting things, including that at
the very lowest levels plant health improves. But that's
not what we were looking for," said Frederick Dooley, a
UW doctoral student in biology who led the research.

Dooley started off to examine the toxic effects of
hydrogen sulfide on plants but mistakenly used only one-
tenth the amount of the toxin he had intended. The
results were so unbelievable that he repeated the
experiment. Still unconvinced, he repeated it again --
and again, and again. In fact, the results have been
replicated so often that they are now "a near certainty,"
he said.

"Everything else that's ever been done on plants was
looking at hydrogen sulfide in high concentrations," he
said.

The research is published online April 17 in PLOS ONE, a
Public Library of Science journal.

At high concentrations -- levels of 30 to 100 parts per
million in water -- hydrogen sulfide can be lethal to
humans. At one part per million it emits a telltale
rotten-egg smell. Dooley used a concentration of 1 part
per billion or less to water seeds of peas, beans and
wheat on a weekly basis. Treating the seeds less often
reduced the effect, and watering more often typically
killed them.

With wheat, all the seeds germinated in one to two days
instead of four or five, and with peas and beans the
typical 40 percent rate of germination rose to 60 to 70
percent.

"They germinate faster and they produce roots and leaves
faster. Basically what we've done is accelerate the
entire plant process," he said.

Crop yields nearly doubled, said Peter Ward, Dooley's
doctoral adviser, a UW professor of biology and of Earth
and space sciences and an authority on Earth's mass
extinctions.

Hydrogen sulfide, probably produced when sulfates in the
oceans were decomposed by sulfur bacteria, is believed to
have played a significant role in several extinction
events, in particular the "Great Dying" at the end of the
Permian period. Ward suggests that the rapid plant growth
could be the result of genetic signaling passed down in
the wake of mass extinctions.

At high concentrations, hydrogen sulfide killed small
plants very easily while larger plants had a better
chance at survival, he said, so it is likely that plants
carry a defense mechanism that spurs their growth when
they sense hydrogen sulfide.

"Mass extinctions kill a lot of stuff, but here's a
legacy that promotes life," Ward said.

Dooley recently has applied hydrogen sulfide treatment to
corn, carrots and soybeans with results that appear to be
similar to earlier tests. But it is likely to be some
time before he, and the general public, are comfortable
with the level of testing to make sure there are no
unforeseen consequences of treating food crops with
hydrogen sulfide.

The most significant near-term promise, he believes, is
in growing algae and other stock for biofuels. Plant
lipids are the key to biofuel production, and preliminary
tests show that the composition of lipids in hydrogen
sulfide-treated plants is the same as in untreated
plants, he said.

When plants grow to larger-than-normal size, they
typically do not produce more cells but rather elongate
their existing cells, Dooley said. However, in the
treatment with hydrogen sulfide, he found that the cells
actually got smaller and there were vastly more of them.
That means the plants contain significantly more biomass
for fuel production, he said.

"If you look at a slide of the cells under a microscope,
anyone can understand it. It is that big of a
difference," he said.

Ward and Suven Nair, a UW biology undergraduate, are
coauthors of the PLOS ONE paper. The work was funded by
the UW Astrobiology Program.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by
University of Washington. The original article was
written by Vince Stricherz.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For
further information, please contact the source cited
above.

Journal Reference:

Frederick D. Dooley, Suven P. Nair, Peter D. Ward.
Increased Growth and Germination Success in Plants
following Hydrogen Sulfide Administration. PLoS ONE,
2013; 8 (4): e62048 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062048

More at:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130417185531.htm

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Om Shanti

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