The global climatic changes cause a constant increase in areas defined as arid, which affects plant growth. On the other hand, according to existing estimates, by the year 2025 a 40% increase in agricultural crops will be required to provide food for the growing world population
A group of researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev identified genes in plants that can be changed in order to increase the plant's resistance to heat, dryness and salinity, thus allowing the plant to survive in drier areas.
Extreme temperature conditions, drought and soil salinity are among the main reasons for low yields. The global climatic changes cause a constant increase in areas defined as arid, which affects plant growth. On the other hand, according to existing estimates, by 2025 a 40% increase in agricultural crops will be required to provide food for the growing world population.
The research in the field of plant resistance is led by Dr. Simon Barak, a researcher in the Department of Biotechnology of Arid Zones named after Albert Katz at the Institutes for Desert Research named after Jacob Blaustein at the Boker campus. The results of the study were recently published in the journal Plant Physiology.
The researchers searched for genes responsible for controlling resistance to various environmental stresses. The plant Arabidopsis thaliana, whose genome sequence has been fully deciphered, was used as a model. The researchers discovered that by changing one of two genes of the plant it is possible to increase its resistance to higher levels of stress. "We manipulated these two genes to increase the resistance systems that exist in the plant itself and made it more resistant to salinity, heat and dryness," explains Barak. "By deciphering the exact mechanism that links these genes to the degree of resistance of the plant, we will be able to understand it better, something we have only begun to do so far."
The two genes responsible for stress response are part of a family consisting of close to 50 genes in Arabidopsis, most of whose functions in plants are still unknown. In other organisms, these genes act to regulate the expression of other genes.
"We would like to create a variety of varieties in crops such as corn and rice that will be resistant to various environmental constraints," says Dr. Barak. "We are studying the genome of some of these plants and we have already found similar genes. We recognize the potential of our discovery in contributing to the relief of food shortages in the world as well as the economic possibilities inherent in it. We hope to cooperate in the near future with biotechnology companies in order to develop the necessary technology."
