Tobacco may get a bad rap from antismoking groups, but farmers may soon praise its usefulness in Iowa’s crops.

A method to induce corn’s natural self-defense system against frost by using tobacco genes has been discovered by researchers at Iowa State.

Kan Wang, director of the department of agronomy, used a tobacco gene to help corn fight frost. Frost and low temperatures affect the germination and growth of a plant. This also limits where a plant can be grown within the United States.

Corn was originally a tropical crop; therefore, it is naturally sensitive to frost and cold temperatures.

The tobacco gene used has a protein that activates these defense systems to protect cells during stressful times, according to a scientific article published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“Plants naturally adapt to environmental stresses, for example when they are gradually introduced to cold temperatures,” Wang said.

The seeds were germinated, grown and sprayed with a light mist of water to initiate ice. Some were exposed to a graduated freezing condition, while others were exposed to a constant freezing condition.

The tobacco gene NPK1 was inserted into the plants. The NPK1 gene has no impact on corn plant growth under normal growth conditions, Wang said.

“During the [adaptation] process, many genes that protect the plants from stress are turned on. The tobacco gene we inserted encodes a protein that mimics the acclimation effect and activates corn’s natural responses to stress faster than through natural acclimation,” she said.

The results showed plants with the tobacco gene were able to tolerate 2 degrees Celsius lower than that of corn not containing the gene. This improvement in frost tolerance would help to lower yield losses during the spring and fall seasons when the chances of frost and cold temperatures are greatest.

It would be helpful for those late frosts in spring because farmers wouldn’t have to replant crops, said Josh Lyon, junior in agricultural studies.

In the future, this will allow researchers to design better strategies to make crops resistant to any kind of stress, Wang said.

“It can’t be used commercially right away, but the knowledge will be a major step,” she said.

This research provides potential to move the production of corn further north or even to extend the growing season, said Steven Fales, professor and chairman of agronomy.

Currently, Wang is doing more in depth research on the mechanism of stress tolerance.

“The principle of using this gene will work for anything so the knowledge can be applicable to other species,” Wang said.

She is also testing the plants in drought as well as other unfavorable conditions.

“Frost is not a huge worry in Iowa, but there would definitely be times when it would come in handy,” said Nathan Callahan, junior in agricultural studies. “That’s one less thing to worry about.”