After a sudden heavy rain, before the harvest season, farmers may face unpredictable problems with barley germinating prematurely. The market price of sprouted barley is quite low, which brings economic burden to farmers and enterprises, and their survival in agriculture is at the mercy of nature. The intensification of climate change has not improved the situation.

Therefore, the problem of germination before harvest has long plagued agricultural researchers. Prolonging the dormant period of grains through genetic manipulation can avoid germination before harvest. However, this dormancy can interfere with malt production and can also cause uneven germination during sowing. Therefore, balancing these issues is necessary for high-quality barley production.

Now, a team of scientists led by Dr. Hiroshi Hisano, an associate professor at Okayama University in Japan, provides a solution to this age-old problem. In order to obtain the "perfect" barley, they adopted the latest gene manipulation technology-CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing. Speaking of their motivation to pursue perfect barley art, Hisano said: "We recognize the need to strategically manipulate crops to withstand the effects of increasing climate change. Because our collaborative research team has accumulated in the precise genome editing of barley Professional knowledge, so we initially decided to use the same method. In addition, previous studies have identified specific grain and seed dormancy genes in barley, called Qsd1 and Qsd2. Therefore, our modus operandi is very clear." Their research results It has been published as a research article in the Journal of Plant Biotechnology.

In order to obtain the barley of interest, Hisano and his team used CRISPR/Cas9 targeted mutagenesis to genetically manipulate the "golden promise" barley samples into single mutants (qsd1 or qsd2) or double mutants (qsd1 and qsd2) ). They then proceeded to perform germination assays on all mutant and non-mutant samples. 

Subsequently, compared with the non-mutant, the results they obtained on the mutant were very interesting. All mutants exhibit delayed germination, but have mutant-specific or conditional characteristics. The 3% hydrogen peroxide treatment promoted the germination of the mutants; exposure of all mutants to low temperatures greatly promoted germination, indicating that the mutant grains did not die, but dormant for a longer time. Due to qsd2, the qsd1 mutation in the single mutant partially reduced long grain dormancy; and the qsd2 mutant can germinate in the dark, but cannot germinate in the light. In addition, all mutants showed accumulation of abscisic acid, consistent with the observed delayed germination conditions. It is worth noting that this accumulation of abscisic acid by itself cannot sustain long-term grain dormancy, which is important for high-quality barley production.

The researchers are ecstatic because their plant biotechnology efforts have been successful. Hisano exclaimed: “We can use CRISPR/Cas9 technology to successfully produce mutant barley that is resistant to pre-harvest germination. In addition, our research not only clarifies the role of qsd1 and qsd2 in grain germination or dormancy, but also confirms qsd2 plays a more important role."

Overall, this research is a milestone in current and future crop improvement research, using the efficient genetic manipulation provided by CRISPR/Cas9. Researchers hope that they can use their enhanced biotechnology to solve the food and environmental problems that humans are currently facing worldwide.

For better beer, the world wants to be with them!

-This press release is provided by Okayama University

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