Cheers! Better Beer From CRISPR Gene-Edited Barley
upstart writes:
Cheers! Better Beer From CRISPR Gene-Edited Barley:
Using CRISPR/Cas9 technology, scientists develop and study gene-edited barley that resists pre-harvest sprouting.
After a spell of unexpected rain, before the harvest season, a farmer may be faced with the unpredictable problem of untimely sprouting of barley. Sprouted barley fetches considerably lower market prices and poses an economic burden on farmers and corporations that are at the mercy of nature to survive in the agriculture industry. The aggravation of climate change has not made this situation any better either.
The problem of pre-harvest sprouting, thus, has kept agricultural researchers occupied for a long time. Pre-harvest sprouting can be avoided by prolonged grain dormancy through genetic manipulation. However, such dormancy can interfere with malt production and can also cause non-uniform germination upon sowing. Balancing these issues is, therefore, necessary for high-quality barley production.
[...] To achieve the barley of interest, Dr. Hisano and his team genetically manipulated samples of 'Golden Promise' barley using CRISPR/Cas9 targeted mutagenesis, to be either single mutants (qsd1, or qsd2), or double mutants (qsd1 and qsd2). Then, they proceeded to perform germination assays on all mutants and non-mutated samples.
Subsequently, the results they obtained for mutants, when compared to non-mutants, was extremely interesting. All the mutants showed delayed germination, but there were mutant-specific or conditional properties. Germination of mutants was promoted by 3% hydrogen peroxide treatment; exposure of all mutants to cold temperatures largely promoted germination, indicating that the grains of the mutants were not dead but had been dormant longer. The qsd1 mutation in single mutants partially reduced long grain dormancy, owing to qsd2; and qsd2 mutants could germinate in the dark, but not in the light. Also, all mutants showed abscisic acid build-up, consistent with conditions observed with delayed germination. Notably, this abscisic acid build-up in itself cannot maintain long-term grain dormancy, the latter being important for high-quality barley production.
Journal Reference:
Hiroshi Hisano, Robert E. Hoffie, Fumitaka Abe, et al. Regulation of germination by targeted mutagenesis of grain dormancy genes in barley [open], Plant Biotechnology Journal (DOI: 10.1111/pbi.13692)
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