Using cutting-edge technology to cultivate 'super fruits and vegetables'
2024-09-02
The new variety of plants developed by scientists to protect fruits and vegetables from the impacts of climate change has greatly benefited consumers. Image source: American science news website. In 2023, Tutti apples from TG Global in New Zealand made a stunning appearance at the Berlin Fruit and Vegetable Exhibition in Germany, becoming the world's first apple variety specifically cultivated for hot climate conditions. Tutti has a beautiful deep red appearance with sweet and juicy flesh. Not only does it have an attractive appearance, but more importantly, it can thrive at high temperatures of 40 ℃. Now, Tutti Apple has been promoted in the United States, Chile and other places. With the continuous warming of the Earth's climate, high temperatures and droughts have had a serious impact on the growth and development of fruits and vegetables. To this end, scientists have used cutting-edge technologies such as gene editing to cultivate a series of climate friendly "super fruits and vegetables", including multiple varieties such as apples, strawberries, tomatoes, and potatoes. High temperatures are very harmful to plants, "said researcher Xie Chuanxiao, director of the Crop Gene Editing Center at the Crop Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, to a reporter from Science and Technology Daily." Temperature and water are key environmental factors that affect plant growth, development, and evolution. Global temperatures continue to hit new highs, leading to frequent climate disasters. Among them, high temperatures and droughts have become the main disasters threatening agricultural production. "Xie Chuanxiao pointed out that severe high temperatures and droughts can directly lead to the death of fruit and vegetable plants. Under general high temperature and drought stress, the growth rate of plants will slow down or even stop, physiological and biochemical metabolism will be disrupted, photosynthetic efficiency will decrease, flowering, fruiting, and reproductive growth ability will decline, ultimately leading to crop yield reduction or complete failure. According to the US Science News website, during the planting season, even if the temperature slightly increases, the yield of many plants will significantly decrease. For example, globally, for every 1 ℃ increase in temperature, rice and wheat yields decrease by 10% and 6.4%, respectively. The United States Association of Agricultural Services previously reported that a rare drought in the United States caused a one-third drop in crop yields, including grains, fruits, and vegetables, in 2023 compared to the same period last year. According to the website of The Guardian, climate change has caused many vegetables in the Netherlands to fail to grow properly in recent years. Xie Chuanxiao introduced that in order to help fruits and vegetables cope with high temperatures and droughts caused by climate change, traditional methods mainly focus on cultivation and management measures. Such as sun shading and moisture preservation, active water diversion irrigation, precision irrigation, soil loosening to delay water evaporation, etc. With the accelerating pace of technological innovation, the use of new technologies such as gene editing to cultivate high temperature and drought resistant varieties has become the main way to address climate change. Spain's extreme daytime temperatures exceed 40 ℃, and nighttime temperatures are also relatively high, making apple cultivation extremely difficult. However, Tutti overcame this obstacle. Tutti was developed by crossbreeding two varieties, Scired and Scilate, after more than 20 years of breeding and research. Tutti Apple is a product of the "Hot Climate Partnership" project. The project aims to cultivate high-quality apples and pears that can thrive in hot climates. After Tutti's outstanding performance, the research team expects to commercialize and promote another 5 types of apples and pears that can adapt to hot climates in the next 7 years. Rajiv Vasili, Director of the Crop and Food Innovation Centre at Murdoch University in Australia, stated that scientists have utilized gene editing tools such as CRISPR to produce climate friendly strawberries, tomatoes, and potatoes. For example, in a study, scientists found that a gene called AtGRXS17 in Arabidopsis is associated with drought resistance. When they added the gene to tomatoes, plants that had undergone surgery were full of vitality and produced fruits in arid environments, while plants that did not have the gene transplanted did not produce fruits. In February of this year, Israeli and American scientists used CRISPR gene editing technology to cultivate a new type of tomato that is drought tolerant and maintains the same yield, quality, and taste, laying the foundation for the development of other water-saving crops. Xie Chuanxiao summarized, "The use of gene editing technology can improve the tolerance of crops to abiotic stresses such as drought, salt, and high temperature. For example, editing genes related to stress response can enhance the survival ability of crops under extreme climate conditions. By improving the photosynthetic efficiency of crops through gene editing technology, it can increase crop productivity and help plants better adapt to climate change." However, gene editing technology still faces many constraints. As a cutting-edge field of modern agricultural research, it provides new opportunities for crop improvement and helps global agriculture prepare for the future and better adapt to climate change. However, Xie Chuanxiao emphasized that "the use of gene editing technology to create 'super fruits and vegetables' still faces issues such as low public acceptance, slow marketization caused by product regulation, and ownership and distribution of intellectual property rights such as target genes and gene editing technology. Among them, intellectual property issues can be agreed upon according to specific contracts on a case by case basis, which is relatively easy to solve." Xie Chuanxiao introduced that "gene editing is obviously different from genetic modification. Gene editing only changes one or more genes of the original crop and does not introduce foreign genes." For example, in June last year, the United States officially launched the use of CRISPR technology for gene editing mustard in catering services. The mustard greens that have undergone "transformation" not only have their spicy taste removed, but their nutrition and taste have also been improved, and the breeding time is only 1/4 of traditional methods. Xie Chuanxiao pointed out that from technology to industrial application, from laboratories to "dining tables", these "super fruits and vegetables" still have a long way to go in the future, and need to be jointly discussed and resolved by the government, scientific research community, and industry. (New Society)
Edit：Xiong Dafei Responsible editor：Li Xiang
Source：CCTV
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