
Mutant Rice Plants with Low Gibberellin Produce High Yield and Stress Tolerance
April 12, 2017 |
One of the main challenges of modern agricultural biotechnology is maximizing plant architecture to enhance productivity, stress tolerance, and water use efficiency. Gibberelins (GAs) are known to regulate plant height and tillering which are directly linked to grain yield in cereals. To optimize these traits, the team of Shuen-Fang Lo from Academia Sinica and National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan eased the levels of GAs in rice thru degradation.
GA 2-oxidase (GA2ox) is a key enzyme that inactivates endogenous GAs and their precursors. The team focused on GA2ox6, which is known to regulate the architecture and function of rice plants. The team then mutated nine specific amino acids in this domain and observed a gradient of effects.
Expression of the GA2ox6 non-functioning mutants moderately lowered GA levels, leading to reduced plant height, more productive tillers, expanded root system, higher WUE and photosynthesis rate, and enhanced abiotic and biotic stress tolerance in transgenic rice. Combinations of these traits resulted in not only drought and disease tolerance, but also increased grain yield in field trials.
This study holds the potential of manipulating GA levels to improve plant architecture, stress tolerance, and grain yield in rice and possibly in other crops.
For more on this promising study, read the full article in Plant Biotechnology Journal.
|
Biotech Updates is a weekly newsletter of ISAAA, a not-for-profit organization. It is distributed for free to over 22,000 subscribers worldwide to inform them about the key developments in biosciences, especially in biotechnology. Your support will help us in our mission to feed the world with knowledge. You can help by donating as little as $10.
-
See more articles:
-
News from Around the World
- 108 Million People Face Severe Acute Food Insecurity – Report
- Development of New Tool to Estimate GM Pollen Spread
- Untangling Molecular Mechanisms Connecting Plant Stress and Growth
- Scientists Aim to Develop Crops that Require Less Labor
- Study Shows Natural Genetic Engineering in Grafted Plants
- New Biosafety Guidelines Introduced to Stakeholders in Cebu, Philippines
- EFSA Publishes Scientific Opinion on Three-Event Stack Oilseed Rape by Monsanto and Bayer
-
Research Highlights
- Identification of Gene Associated with Cold Tolerance at the Seedling Stage in Rice
- Mutant Rice Plants with Low Gibberellin Produce High Yield and Stress Tolerance
-
Beyond Crop Biotech
- Gene Mutation Found in ‘Night Owls'
- Genes that Give Cannabis its Flavor
-
Announcements
- 14th Annual BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology
- March for Science
-
Resources
- The Petri Dish is Now Online
-
Plant
- Review of the Impacts of Genome Editing Techniques in Plants
-
Read the latest: - Biotech Updates (April 23, 2025)
- Gene Editing Supplement (April 16, 2025)
- Gene Drive Supplement (February 22, 2023)
-
Subscribe to BU: - Share
- Tweet