Water deficit is currently one of the most significant limiting factors for global agricultural productivity, a factor further exacerbated by global climate change according to a 2019 water report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
Water deficit is currently one of the most significant limiting factors for global agricultural productivity, a factor further exacerbated by global climate change according to a 2019 water report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. As a result, researchers worldwide have been working to improve water-use efficiency in crops to better cope with water-scarce conditions.
In a recent study published in the Journal of Experimental Botany, a team from the University of Illinois, the Volcani Center (Agricultural Research Organization, Israel), and the University of Cambridge found that by overexpressing a sugar-sensing enzyme, called hexokinase, in field-grown tobacco plants, they could improve intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE) without decreasing photosynthetic rates or biomass production.
Tobacco was used as a model crop because it is relatively easy to work with within the laboratory, greenhouse, and field. Results in this crop can be seen at a much quicker pace than in food crops, which are more difficult and time-consuming to modify and grow. Therefore, tobacco was chosen as the initial test crop to see if similar results could be proven. After showing success in the model crop, the researchers can then confidently mirror the developments in food crops, such as cassava, cowpea, rice, and soybean.
Read more at Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Photo Credit: webyourlife via Pixabay
