Researchers at the Huazhong Agricultural University, in Wuhan province, China have taken an important step in the battle to increase the productivity of rice by identifying the gene which determines the plant's height, number of grains and flowering times.
Chinese researchers have uncovered a key gene in the rice plant which could have a profound effect on its productivity. Photo: Rice Field. Credit: romainguy/flickr
Qifa Zhang and colleagues at the research institution found that rice plants that were shorter, flower earlier and had fewer grains lacked an important gene called Ghd7. By adding the gene to the shorter plants, the scientists saw the plants became two-thirds taller with the time taken to flowering doubled.
"Our study shows that a single gene can control several traits with major effects. It can double the yield, determine flowering time and plant height," said Zhang Qifa of the University in Wuhan province in China.
"Previously, we thought we needed to change many genes to change rice yield, now we just need to manipulate a single gene to increase productivity," he told Reuters in a telephone interview.
The team also found five different version of the key gene.
"The most highly active versions were present in warmer regions, allowing rice plants to fully exploit light and temperature by delaying flowering and increasing yield. Less active or inactive versions were found in cooler regions, enabling rice to be cultivated in areas where the growing season is shorter," they wrote in the journal Nature Genetics.
The findings will have "fundamental implications" for the increased productivity of the staple crop says the study.
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