Japanese stride toward genetically modified super plant
Gabriel BorrudJune 10, 2016
Japanese researchers say they have taken a significant step toward the creation of genetically modified super plants. One simple genetic manipulation, claims the RIKEN team, can make plants bigger and tougher.
Image: Riken
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The two rows in the picture above show the identical plant, arabidopsis, grown under identical conditions. The top row, however, was modified genetically to alter the plant's biological clock, increasing its biomass and resilience significantly.
The results, published by Oxford in the journal Plant & Cell Physiology, dazzled the team of researchers at Japan's RIKEN applied science institute, who said they had made a giant step towards the creation of genetic super plants.
"This was a proof-of-concept study, and I'm satisfied because the data were very beautiful and clearly demonstrate that this approach works," said Norihito Nakamichi, who co-led the work with his colleague Hitoshi Sakakibara at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science.
All about the clock
The team had conducted earlier experiments that suggested a molecular mechanism was controlling the biological, or circadian, clock of arabidopsis plants. In those trials, the scientists inhibited specific genes known as pseudo-response regulator (PRR) genes, which resulted in less significant changes to the size and resilience of the plant. When three of the genes were repressed, however, the team observed later flowering (resulting in larger size) and greater adaptability due to noticeable changes to the plant's circadian clock.
This time around, Nakamichi and Hitoshi engineered a modified PRR gene known as PRR5-VP that single-handedly brought about the changes seen in the first experiments involving PRR genes.
The later flowering resulted in a doubling of the plant's biomass, and stress tests showed a dramatic increase in resilience. When exposed to a day of freezing temperatures, all of the control plants died, while only half of the PRR5-VP plants succumbed. When exposed to 16 days of drought, all of the PRR5-VP survived, while nearly all of the control plants were killed.
The team at RIKEN said the implementation of PRR5-VP genes on arabidopsis were only the beginning, citing other avenues for further research.
"In other plants, [these genes] might regulate physiological processes not found in the model species [arabidopsis]," Nakamichi said. "This approach may reveal aspects of the evolution of the biological clock's genetic network."
Biodiversity's treasure chest
In Svalbard, close to the North Pole, a special vault stores crop plant seeds from all over the world. If war, disaster or climate change destroys crops, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault would serve as a backup.
Image: Michael Marek
Barren icescape
Svalbard belongs to Norway; the archipelago is about the size of Belgium and Switzerland combined. All that's visible are small, flattened hilltops. Trees? Forget about it! But the air is crystal clear, the sky deep blue. It's a breathtaking landscape. During summer, it's light out 24 hours a day - while in winter, it stays in darkness, and the temperature drops to minus 25 degrees Celsius.
Image: Michael Marek
International Arctic research
Over the past few years, the region has become a hub for international Arctic research. Marine biologists, meteorologists, geologists, geophysicists and ice researchers carry out their scientific activities on and around Svalbard.
Image: Michael Marek
Climate change has taken hold
There are about 350 glaciers on Svalbard, but they have started to show signs of climate change: The summer ice cap may disappear completely by the end of this century. The number of fish and bird species that are not native to the region has risen. For example, mackerels from warmer parts of the ocean can nowadays be found near the Svalbard coast.
Image: Michael Marek
New face for an old town
About 2,500 people live in Longyearbyen, the capital of Svalbard. The small village, with its colorful wooden houses, used to be a coal town - mining started there in 1906. Today, only a few remaining coal shafts bear witness to former industrial boom times.
Image: Michael Marek
Remote outpost
What does remains is the massive logistical effort that comes with life on Svalbard: Every light bulb, every apple, every piece of steel needs to be flown in, or travel 950 kilometers by ship from the Norwegian mainland to the archipelago.
Image: Michael Marek
Hidden entrance
About a kilometer from Longyearbyen is the entrance to the treasure chest. From the outside, the only thing visible is a narrow concrete entrance that seems to grow out of the snow-capped mountain.
Image: Michael Marek
Bunker in the mountain
Behind the entrance is a tube-like tunnel, leading 120 meters slightly downhill into the earth. A shimmering silver wiring system, including cooling, is attached to the ceiling. The temperature in the tunnel remains at a constant minus 7 degrees Celsius - in summer and winter alike.
Image: Michael Marek
The treasure chest's lid
At the end of the tunnel is the door to the vault. The Arctic cold of Svalbard is supposed to serve as a natural protection for the seeds. The idea behind the seed vault is to have a backup for biodiversity - no one is sure how heavy loss of crop diversity might affect humankind.
Image: Michael Marek
Perfectly safe space
Svalbard is an ideal storage place for seeds, for a number of reasons: Norway is not involved in any war. According to the Svalbard Treaty signed in 1920, Svalbard is a demilitarized zone. The region is geomorphically stable; there are no earthquakes or volcanoes. In addition, the seed vault is located 130 meters above sea level, which protects it from floods.
Image: Michael Marek
Shipments from all over the world
Three times a year, the place bustles with activity when seeds are delivered and stored inside the mountain. There's space for 4.5 million different types of crop plants, and about 500 seeds per species are storied in the vault. This means that there is room there for more than 2.25 billion seeds. At the moment, only one of three vaults is in use.
Image: Michael Marek
Still room for more
These seeds from Germany are stored in hermetically sealed aluminum packaging. At the moment, Svalbard is storing 865,000 seed samples covering 5,103 different plant species from all over the planet. From Afghanistan to the Central African Republic, the official catalog lists seeds from just about every country in the world.
Image: Michael Marek
Protection in action
Recently, for the first time in history, an organization reclaimed its seeds: After the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas in Aleppo, Syria, had been destroyed, it asked to get back grain seeds specially adapted to drylands farming. The organization reopened its headquarters in Beirut, and is trying to rebuild its seed stocks.