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Novel Gene Technology for Developing Drought Tolerant Crops
Reference
BB/N012623/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor
Dr Stephen Chivasa
Co-Investigators /
Co-Supervisors
Institution
Durham University
Department
Biosciences
Funding type
Research
Value (£)
198,635
Status
Completed
Type
Research Grant
Start date
01/07/2016
End date
31/07/2018
Duration
25 months
Abstract
unavailable
Summary
Drought is a major threat to global food security. Predictive models forecast the occurrence of more frequent and prolonged droughts as a consequence of global warming. This puts unprecedented pressure on global agricultural systems, which should support a growing population without expanding the land under cultivation. Billions of pounds have been invested in research to find solutions to combat the effects of drought. One way of achieving this is to identify new genes, capable of conferring drought tolerance, for insertion into crops by genetic engineering. The major impediment has been that most genes identified to date inadvertently depress crop yields, thereby negating the purpose of maintaining stable yields under stress. We discovered a family of novel genes, which confer drought tolerance to the model plant species Arabidopsis without negatively affecting its growth or seed yield. We are developing this discovery into a gene technology platform to protect crops against drought.
Committee
Not funded via Committee
Research Topics
Crop Science, Plant Science
Research Priority
X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative
Follow-On Fund (FOF) [2004-2015]
Funding Scheme
X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme
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