Harnessing genome variation to optimise stomatal characteristics and create climate resilient and nutritious rice

• Applicant: Professor Arthur Korte, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Plant Breeding and Plant Pathology
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 552888947

Rising temperatures and lack of water are reducing crop yields and quality in many agricultural regions. This is predicted to increase under climate change. We will focus on rice because it is the most important human food crop, its cultivation is water intensive, and productivity is particularly affected by climate change. We aim to identify and test several natural genetic variations that already allow some rice landraces to produce nutritious seed under future warmer and drier climates. The project brings together scientists interested in enhancing crop climate-resilience, and particularly the role of the pores on the leaf surface known as stomata. These adjustable pores control water loss from the plant and are therefore crucial for evaporative cooling and drought stress responses. We have already screened the genomes of almost one thousand existing rice landraces to identify a list of 30 genes with naturally occurring variations associated with growth in challenging environments. Six of these genes have been prioritized to study in detail; three are involved in regulating the production of stomata and hence the maximum and minimum levels of water loss, and three have less well-known functions. To explore which of these genes are most able to confer climate-resilience we will grow and compare 200 traditional rice landraces that contain either functional or non-functional copies of our target genes. We will grow the rice landraces in both carefully controlled environments and in also in tropical field trials and measure their stress resilience and nutrient levels. Data from these experiments will not only pinpoint the genetic sequences that are naturally associated with heat and drought tolerance but also allow us to use machine learning to discover the attributes of laboratory grown plants which are the best predictors of crop performance in the field. We will verify the function of our target genes by genetically manipulating their expression, and through in silico transcriptomic, physiological and biochemical analyses, provide new genomic resources to the rice research community. Finally, we will use gene editing to recreate the stress resilience found in traditional landraces in a stress susceptible elite modern rice variety. To achieve this will require the skills of our multidisciplinary team. We have also designed a 'citizen science' program to investigate the role of all 30 climate associated rice genes alongside the priority gene targets. To do this we will work with high school students in local US and UK high schools. This will allow us to investigate an increased number of genes and give the students and teachers the opportunity to contribute to the international research endeavor that aims to combat climate change.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Philippines, United Kingdom, USA
• Partner Organisation: Biotechnology und Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC); United States Department of Agriculture (USDA); National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
• Cooperation Partners: Professorin Dr. Sarah Assmann; Dr. Stuart Casson; Professorin Dr. Julie Gray; Dr. Amelia Henry