Biotech Updates

Vitamin C Increase Twin Seed Incidence in Crops

June 29, 2012

University of California Riverside professor of biochemistry Daniel R. Gallie and colleague Zhong Chen in an article published in PlosOne, report that increasing level of dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR), the enzyme involved in vitamin C synthesis results in the production of twin and triplet seedling in a single seed. The experiment conducted using tobacco cells have applications in increasing productivity in other food crops

"The ability to increase fertility can be extremely useful when the inherent rate of fertility is low or the value of the crop is great, such as corn in which the production of multiple embryos would significantly boost its protein content," Gallie said. "The extra seedlings per seed may also enhance per-seed survival chances for some species."

See the original news at  http://ucrtoday.ucr.edu/7124.