A team of Academia Sinica researchers yesterday unveiled a mechanism to enhance the environmental stress tolerance of rice plants by regulating enzymatic and sugary expression, saying that it would improve rice production under extreme weather conditions.
As rice is the staple food for nearly half of the global population, improving its production and resistance to environmental challenges is crucial, Institute of Molecular Biology distinguished research fellow Yu Su-may (余淑美) told a news conference in Taipei.
The issue has become more pressing, as the world’s population is expected to exceed 9 billion by 2050.
Photo: Chien Hui-ju, Taipei Times
In addition to population growth, other challenges to rice production include extreme weather, such as heat waves and inadequate water supplies for agricultural use, she said.
To improve rice production, the team found that the key is regulation of the expression of the enzyme alpha-amylase, which hydrolyzes starch into sugars in plants and is induced by sugar starvation and repressed by sugar provision, Yu said.
The process can be regulated by adjusting the functions of two proteins called MYBS1 and MYBS2, which are transcription factors competing to bind to the enzyme to either promote or repress its sugar induction, she said.
Under a low sugar level, MYBS1 will enter cell nuclei to promote alpha-amylase’s expression, while MYBS2 will restrict its expression when the sugar level is high, Yu said.
When MYBS2 is suppressed in a dry and hot environment, the enzyme alpha-amylase is induced to hydrolyze starch in sugars, she said.
After nearly six years of research, the team found — using gene editing techniques — that controlling the expressions of MYBS2 and alpha-amylase in rice plants can enhance their production and stress resistance, she added.
Gene-edited rice plants are 1.5 larger than non-modified plants, and they can survive in temperatures up to 42°C and with 20 percent less water, Yu said.
However, whether the gene editing technique influences the nutrition and flavor of rice requires more research, she said.
Other team members include David Ho (賀端華), a distinguished research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, and Lu Chung-an (陸重安), associate professor at the National Central University’s Department of Life Sciences.
Their findings were published on Oct. 22 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods