kemist
10-27-2011, 09:30 AM
Perhaps T&T should look into this as well:
link (http://www.futurity.org/science-technology/train-crops-to-survive-flood/)
As Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Australia, the UK, and US have all faced catastrophic flooding in recent years, tolerance of crops to partial or complete submergence is a key target for global food security. Because they are starved for oxygen, crops are unable to survive a flood for long periods of time, leading to drastic reductions in yields for farmers.
Discovery of the mechanism by which plants sense low oxygen levels could eventually lead to the production of high-yielding, flood-tolerant crops.
The mechanism, reported in the journal Nature, (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature10534.html) controls key proteins in plants that cause them to be unstable when oxygen levels are normal. When roots or shoots are flooded and oxygen levels drop, the proteins stabilize.
Holdsworth and colleague Julia Bailey-Serres, professor of genetics at the University of California, Riverside, expect that the findings will make it possible over the next decade to manipulate the protein turnover mechanism in a wide range of crops prone to damage by flooding.
link (http://www.futurity.org/science-technology/train-crops-to-survive-flood/)
As Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Australia, the UK, and US have all faced catastrophic flooding in recent years, tolerance of crops to partial or complete submergence is a key target for global food security. Because they are starved for oxygen, crops are unable to survive a flood for long periods of time, leading to drastic reductions in yields for farmers.
Discovery of the mechanism by which plants sense low oxygen levels could eventually lead to the production of high-yielding, flood-tolerant crops.
The mechanism, reported in the journal Nature, (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature10534.html) controls key proteins in plants that cause them to be unstable when oxygen levels are normal. When roots or shoots are flooded and oxygen levels drop, the proteins stabilize.
Holdsworth and colleague Julia Bailey-Serres, professor of genetics at the University of California, Riverside, expect that the findings will make it possible over the next decade to manipulate the protein turnover mechanism in a wide range of crops prone to damage by flooding.