The "holy grail" wheat gene could alleviate future food crisis

Good Morning,

Wheat provides 20 % of the calories that humans consume everyday. Due to human-induced global heating its production is in danger; severe heat waves, droughts and wildfires are especially disastrous to harvests.

Researchers at the John Innes Centre in Norwich are working on a project to make wheat more resistant to heat and drought. Varieties of wheat, created partly by gene-editing technology, will be planted in field trials in Spain. In the past, such efforts have proven to be very tricky because of wheat genome complexity.

The complexity is due to the "holy grail" in wheat genetics – a gene that prevents cultivated wheat from assimilating useful characteristics from wild relatives. These characteristics – such as disease resistance and protection against heat – play a key role in surviving climate change. Researchers at the John Innes Centre have found this gene and created a mutant version that could allow cultivated wheat to assimilate useful characteristics.

Professor Graham Moore from John Innes Centre concludes: "The aim will be to identify which varieties will do best at surviving the higher temperatures that our farmers are to experience in coming decades. Wheat has played a remarkable role in human history and hopefully, this work will help it to maintain its importance as a foodstuff for the future.”

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EU's Carbon Allowance (ETS) price development

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