Researchers discover a way to make crops more resilient

A study from the University of Calgary is aimed at improving wheat crops’ resilience, yield and nutrient value without the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). 

The weather has a heavy impact on crops — from changes in temperatures, hailstorms and drought — leading to some challenges in places like the Prairies.

However, researchers say they’ve found ways where plants can use their own genes to fight these conditions.

Marcus Samuel, a researcher in the Faculty of Science at the University of Calgary, said he has been working on improving agricultural crop resilience through two projects that address climate change and improve the quality of food for the growing population.

“Have you ever stopped to think how we are going to feed the population that is growing at an exponential pace, in the next 20 or 30 years?” Samuel asked.

“We identified a molecular pathway that is important for drought tolerance in plants … We’re trying to implement this pathway in crops such as wheat and canola so that we can make them sustain under challenging climatic conditions,” he said. 

#UCalgary researcher Dr. Marcus Samuel of @UofC_Science, discusses new innovative research to help improve wheat crops’ resilience, yield, and nutrient value https://t.co/UTO964oNq2 pic.twitter.com/TMdqxZTjBR

— U Calgary (@UCalgary) July 25, 2022

Samuel said the molecular approach researchers are using is allowing them to learn more about the genes responsible for drought tolerance.

The work is creating more wheat varieties, starting with a tiny weed called Arabidopsis.

“When we manipulated certain genes involved in hormonal pathways, we were able to tweak their drought responses differently,” Samuel explained.

“We developed a proprietary technology to screen mutated seeds that allowed us to rapidly screen over 100,000 mutated lines of wheat to assess for drought tolerance.”

Samuel’s team used this technology on a line of wheat that hadn’t seen any major yield improvements for better drought tolerance in three decades.

Their study resulted in improved yield even with a limited water supply.

The next step of the study was to try planting six lines of the mutated wheat to make sure all of them could develop drought tolerance.

“We tested them in field for two seasons, and they really stood up in the field,” said Samuel. “This action actually allowed us to take it further and actually make plans to bring it to the farmers and producers.”

The next step is to isolate the mutated genes that are responsible for drought tolerance and then use them on Canadian wheat strains to do what researchers call “gene editing,” which he explained changes the “existing genetic material of an organism in ways that can be advantageous to it.”

He added that it's different from GMOs, which “introduce new configurations of genetic material that can be from the same or different organism.”

“In five years, we could have improved, drought-tolerant wheat lines — that farmers can actually use,” Samuel said.

Meanwhile, Samuel said another project they’re working on is looking at making certain plants, such as soybeans, peas and canola, richer in protein.

“We recently identified a genetic network that is important for accumulating proteins in seeds,” he said.

Samuel and his former PhD student Logan Skori are hoping that their results will help feed people in developing countries in a more efficient and environmentally friendly way.

Their research has found an important gene in canola that can increase the seed’s protein level by 10 to 20 per cent.

The project is also working on eliminating two negative regulators that affect the important gene in canola.

AgGene — an agriculture biotechnology company that both Samuel and Skori are part of — has applied for a patent.