CIMMYT took a historic step in March 2004 by planting a small trial of genetically engineered wheat in its screenhouse at headquarters in El Batan, Mexico. It was the first time that transgenic wheat has been planted in Mexico
CIMMYT took a historic step in March 2004 by planting a small trial of genetically engineered wheat in its screenhouse at headquarters in El Batan, Mexico. It was the first time that transgenic wheat has been planted in Mexico under field-like conditions, and encouraging results have spurred plans for a more extensive follow-up trial.
DREB plants (left) next to non-DREB plants (right) in the trial.
Striving for Drought-Tolerant Wheat
Researchers used genetic engineering to insert a gene from Arabidopsis thaliana, a relative of wild mustard, into wheat. The gene, DREB1A, was provided by the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences, and has been shown to confer tolerance to drought, low temperature, and salinity in its natural host. The small trial completed this year was conducted in full accordance with Mexican and CIMMYT biosafety procedures, and represents a critical step toward developing drought-tolerant wheat varieties by allowing scientists to see how the DREB1A-expressing wheat responds under more natural conditions.
Drought is one of the most important agricultural production problems in the world. Combined with shortages of irrigation water, it threatens the ability of many developing countries to produce enough grain to feed themselves. Currently, the 20% of global farmland that produces 40% of the world’s food supply is irrigated.
“Drought is a complicated problem,” says CIMMYT cell biologist Alessandro Pellegrineschi, who led the trial. “When a plant is exposed to drought, there can be moisture stress, but there can also be heat or soil micro-element deficiencies or toxicities.” Because there are so many stresses, it is important to evaluate a potential solution under a variety of environments. Moreover, scientists are discovering that plants react to numerous stresses, especially to water deficiency and high levels of salt, in complex ways.
Encouraging and Consistent Results
Looking at the trial results, Pellegrineschi and colleagues were encouraged when they observed a more normal, non-stressed phenotype in the transgenic lines under drought conditions. Near the trial’s end, the non-DREB control wheat was dry, yellow, and shriveled, while the DREB wheat was still green and thriving. Pellegrineschi was surprised that a single gene could bring about such a visible response.
Pellegrineschi says the results of this trial, which is part of CIMMYT’s joint work with the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Molecular Plant Breeding