Sugar signaling treatment could increase wheat yields to 12%

Improving the sugar signal capacity of wheat plants could provide increased yields up to 12%, according to Rothamsted researchers, the University of Oxford and the Rosalind Franklin Institute, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology. It is an order of magnitude greater than annual return increases under breeding.

The effect was obtained by applying a molecule for pre-signs of 6-phosphate (T6P) Tréhalose (T6P). T6P is a signaling molecule which regulates the plant equivalent of “blood sugar”. It is a major regulator of metabolism, growth and development, including activation of the starch synthesis, the most important food carbohydrates in the world.

The link was discovered during research launched in Rothamsted in 2006. Now, a four -year field study using plots from CIMMYT, Mexico and Inta, Argentina has confirmed that new technology could make major yield improvements.

Wheat has a complex genetics and targeting genetic strangles in genetic material makes improvement by reproduction far from being simple. A chemical application of T6P acts as a switch for the biosynthesis of starch in the grains, which constitutes the basis of wheat yields. This in turn stimulates photosynthesis in the flag leaf, due to a greater demand for carbon construction blocks for the grain filling.

Experiences in controlled environments seemed promising, but this new study shows that the application can provide under field conditions. Not only did the T6P increased wheat yields during each four years in Argentina tests and in an additional year in Cimmyt in Mexico, but it did it independently of precipitation, the main uncontrolled abiotic factor that limits yields worldwide.

It may even be possible to reduce fertilizer applications because T6P treatment activates genes for the synthesis of amino acids and proteins in grains as well as the starch synthesis. This is important because a major problem in new varieties of higher yield wheat is the dilution of the protein content, requiring an increase in fertilizers to maintain quality for the manufacture of bread.

“The Chemin de la Découverte à la translation has taken 25 years old,” said Dr. Matthew Paul de Rothamsted, who led research with Professor Ben Davis at Rosalind Franklin Institute and at the University of Oxford. “Such deadlines are not non-typical in the research on plants in blue skies, but we hope that new technologies, such as AI and faster analytical techniques, can accelerate this process.

“We will need many more innovations like this to create sustainable and resilient agriculture in the coming decades. I am very grateful to my excellent people, colleagues and teams and for UKRI-BBSRC subsidies, which made this work possible. Go so far was a difficult but extremely enriching job.”

Rothamsted and Oxford created Sugarox, a spin-out company, to deliver this research to farmers. Dr. Cara Griffiths, principal author of the research document and CEO of Sugarox, said: “It is exciting to be able to take advanced bench technologies to the field. Obtaining this type of impact is often difficult to translate on the ground, and this work has shown that new inputs of cultures have a huge promise to improve yield and resilience in our culture systems, which is particularly important in rapid climate change. “”

“This work provides an excellent example of cases where the direct selective manipulation of key molecular structures, rather than genetics or edition of genes, in a life system changes the situation,” said Professor Davis. “It was very inspiring to design and discover this new class of” drugs for plants “.”