Drought-Resistant Crops

Drought is the biggest cause of crop failure worldwide, and if climate changes continue to make rainfall patterns increasingly unpredictable, water shortages could reduce yields severely. Recently, researchers identified a gene that could help reduce crop loss by utilizing a plant’s innate ability to adjust to changing water conditions.

Engineering a single solution to drought tolerance has proven to be problematic because different plants use different strategies involving hundreds of genes. However, they all seem to rely on calcium as a signal to conserve water. What the researchers discovered is that the gene known as OSCA1 triggers a protein in the cells of leaves and roots which boosts calcium levels, allowing the plant to respond using whatever coping mechanisms it possesses. In side-by-side studies on plants containing normal OSCA1 genes and others containing defective OSCA1 genes, the mutant plants responded poorly to the stress of drought. This finding could lead to new genetically-engineered crops that can produce more food with less water.