Experts Develop Heatwave-tolerant Potatoes

A study published in Global Change Biology reports about genetically engineered potato plants that can grow 30% larger tubers under heatwave conditions without affecting the nutritional quality of the tubers. The research was conducted by a team of experts led by Katherine Meacham-Hensold of the University of Illinois in the US.

“If we are going to meet the need for food in regions most at risk from reduced yields due to global warming, we need to produce crops that can withstand more frequent and intense heatwave events…The 30% increase in tuber mass observed in our field trials shows the promise of improving photosynthesis to enable climate-ready crops,” said Meacham-Hensold.

The research team aimed at altering potato plants' photorespiration, which has been pinpointed in previous studies to be significantly impacted by high temperatures, leading to reduced yields in other crops such as soybean, rice, and vegetables. Photorespiration, also called oxidative photosynthethic carbon cycle, is a plant metabolism process wherein the enzyme RuBisCo allows fixation of carbon dioxide to react with oxygen rather than carbon dioxide. This process depletes a lot of energy, thus affecting the plant's ability to produce its own food. The researchers engineered the plants to bypass the original photorespiratory pathway and produce bigger tubers.