Drought tolerance in grain and oilseeds is a tough genetic cell to crack, but Chang-Jui Liu thinks his lab has one of the answers.
Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, is working with suberin, an enzyme that creates the basis for the woody, wax-like material that makes cork tough and water resistant.
It also provides plant cell walls with the ability to control the amount of water and nutrients they let in, while keeping most pathogens out.
Liu’s lab has found a way to genetically control the expression of the enzyme, which will allow researchers, either through plant breeding or genetic modification, to develop plants that can take in more water when it is available than they normally would. Salt tolerance is another possibility.
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Liu has been working with the U.S. Department of Energy, which has been trying to develop biofuel crops that are able to grow on marginal land, but he said the technology could be adapted to most crops, “especially those grown in harsh environments with drought, saline or northerly conditions.”
Liu found the gene that creates the enzyme in the popular scientific test plant arabidopsis, a brassica cousin to rapeseed and canola.
The discovery was announced Oct. 19.
