Global warming is an increasingly obvious threat to agriculture and food security. However Growing wheat in drought conditions may be easier in the futureThanks to new genetic research conducted by the University of California, Davis (USA).
An international team of scientists has determined that the correct number of copies of a given set of genes, longer-than-normal root growth, allows wheat plants to draw water from the deeper layers of the soil. According to an article published in the journal, the resulting samples have more biomass and yield higher grain yields. Nature Communication.
Provides new tools for research Changing the root architecture of wheat and thus resisting water scarcity conditionssays Gilad Gabay, a postdoctoral fellow in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences and first author of the paper.
Roots are key to better performance in drought
“Roots play a very important role in plants,” he recalled. “The root absorbs water and nutrients to support plant growth. This finding is a useful tool for engineering root systems in wheat that increase yields under drought conditions.”
Much work has been done on several fronts in recent years to improve wheat production, but losses from water stress may invalidate improvements achieved so far. Plants that can adapt to water scarcity conditions and also have higher yields will be key to producing enough food for a growing population in the face of global warming.
Until now, little was known about the genes that influence wheat root structure. According to Jorge Dubcovsky, project leader in Gabay’s lab, the discovery of the gene family known as OPRIII and the discovery that different copies of these genes affect root length represent a big step forward.
Jasmonic acid, key
Duplication of OPRIII genes results in increased production. A plant hormone called jasmonic acid that causes, among other processes, accelerated production of lateral roots“You can use different doses of these genes to get different roots,” Dubcovsky said.
The team of researchers removed some of the OPRIII genes that were transcribed in wheat lines with shorter roots using CRISPR gene editing technology to get longer roots. Increased copies of these genes led to shorter, more branched roots. But the addition of a rye chromosome, which resulted in a decrease in wheat OPRIII genes, led to longer roots.
“Adjusting the dose of OPRIII genes could allow us to design drought-adaptive root systemsunder normal conditions, different scenarios,” he said.
Knowing the right combination of genes means that researchers can look for wheat varieties with these natural variations and breed them for delivery to growers who grow in low-water environments.
Reference work: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-36248-y#Fig2
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