Available Technologies

Background

Climate change, driven by global warming, is reducing arable land and accelerating desertification, worsening declines in crop yields and green spaces. The development of plants and crops capable of growing in arid lands and other harsh climatic conditions is expected to provide a solution to these challenges.

Description and Advantages

The Mongolian an Gobi Desert region experiences extremely dry conditions, with an annual precipitation of only 50mm, and is subjected to harsh climate conditions, with temperatures dropping below -20°C in winter. The research team identified a novel group of genes induced by desiccation stress from Chloris virgata (Chloris), which thrives in extreme abiotic conditions in harsh arid regions (Fig.1). These novel genes confer desiccation stress tolerance to plants as shown in the gene-introduction experiments with the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana (Fig. 2).

➢ Identification of novel genes contributing to desiccation stress tolerance

It is predicted that the genes activate desiccation stress tolerance signaling pathways to stimulate the biosynthesis of related hormones.
➢ Desiccation stress-tolerant recombinant obtainable simply by the gene introduction to plants other than C. virgata