Chinese researchers discovered two genes in rice that can make the staple crop more heat-resistant, paving the door for the development of highly thermotolerant crops.
The researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology and Shanghai Jiao Tong University discovered how the rice cell membrane detects exterior heat-stress signals before interacting with chloroplasts. To orchestrate heat tolerance, photosynthesis occurs in this organ.
Excessive heat can harm a plant’s chloroplasts. Temperatures that surpass a crop’s normal tolerance likely to reduce production.
The researchers discovered a gene region including two genes, Thermo-tolerance 3.1 (TT3.1) and Thermo-tolerance 3.2 (TT3.2) (TT3.2). According to China’s News Agency, they work together to improve rice thermotolerance and decrease grain output losses caused by heat stress (Xinhua).
The researchers discovered that accumulating TT3.2 causes chloroplast damage in response to heat stress, but in that case, TT3.1 can help. The researchers employed hybridization to convert the African rice TT3 locus into Asian species.
The new species is more heat resistant, according to the field test results. It can resist temperatures up to 38 degrees Celsius without crop failure, but regular species’ yield would be lowered beyond 35 degrees Celsius, according to the researchers.
According to the researchers, the newly discovered gene might be utilized to grow heat-tolerant variants in other plants such as wheat, maize, bean, and vegetables.