Salt-Tolerant Crops Brought One Step Closer by New Study

With the threat of global warming turning more into reality each single day, plant bioengineers everywhere are working around the clock on creating crop varieties able to withstand prolonged drought and still yield sufficient produce to sustain a booming human population. In a related line of research, Australian experts are currently working on ways to create salt-resistant cereal crops that are able to contain the salt extracted from the ground in parts of the plant where the chemical compound does the least amount of damage. In order to do this, the experts employed a new GM technique.

In an achievement that could have vast implications on world food production and security, experts from University of Adelaide Waite Campus have developed a new genetic modification (GM) technique that could be used to combat the problem of salinity around the world in the future. Scientists from the Australian Center for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG) and the University of Adelaide School of Agriculture, Food and Wine also contributed to the study, together with colleagues from the United Kingdom, at the University of Cambridge Department of Plant Sciences.

“Salinity affects the growth of plants worldwide, particularly in irrigated land where one third of the world's food is produced. And it is a problem that is only going to get worse, as pressure to use less water increases and quality of water decreases. Helping plants to withstand this salty onslaught will have a significant impact on world food production,” Professor Mark Tester, the team leader, explains the purpose of the research. He also works at the University of Adelaide School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, and at the ACPFG. Results of the new GM method are detailed in the July 7th issue of the respected scientific journal The Plant Cell.

In the new technique, the experts managed to successfully modify the genetic traits of xylems (a plant's water pipes), so that they keep salt in the form of Na+ ions out of the leaves, ScienceDaily reports. “This reduces the amount of toxic Na+ building up in the shoot and so increases the plant's tolerance to salinity. In doing this, we've enhanced a process used naturally by plants to minimize the movement of Na+ to the shoot. We've used genetic modification to amplify the process, helping plants to do what they already do – but to do it much better,” Tester says.

“Our results in rice already look very promising,” he adds. At this point, rice is the most widely used crop in the world, and it helps sustain billions of people, especially in Asia, India and Oceania. If researchers manage to successfully modify rice and maize (corn), then half of the food security problem would be solved, food experts believe.