Rice, rice, and more rice, a sustainable future ahead of us.

 Researchers from UC Davis in 2019 found that, by activating the gene BBM1 in rice egg cells, it could switch on the ability of a fertilized egg o form an embryo, basically, creating a clonal hybrid without the need for fertilization that provide a high yield of the crop consistently. This method only worked about 30% of the time. That is until collaborators from UC Berkeley’s innovative genomics institute discovered that, by activating the WOX9A gene, the success rate increases to around 90%. It is a remarkable discovery that provides us the great benefits of hybrid rice strains without the need for creating the hybrid and buying an extra seed of seed every year. “In a world where resources are increasingly limited it provides a path forward for sustainable agriculture for rice farmers, and in the future, for other crops as well”.

According to the original research from the UC Davis staff, there are about 400 species of wil plants that can produce viable seeds without fertilization. They are called apomixis, but this process did not seem to have evolved in commercial crops. The gene BBM1, that belongs to a family of plant genes called “Baby Boom” or BBM, is expressed in sperm cells but not in eggs. They argue that BBM1 switches on the ability of a fertilized egg to form an embryo. The researchers first used gene editing to cut the ability of the plants to go through meiosis, meaning that the egg cells formed by mitosis, inheriting a full set of diploid chromosomes from the mother, then they caused these egg cells to express BBM1, which would not happen without fertilization. “so, we have a diploid egg cell with the ability to make an embryo, and that grows into a clonal seed”.

I fall short of words to express how much I enjoy the continuous development of this research. As a fellow rice enthusiast, and as someone with a conscience that can understand the need for sustainable agriculture in a world that likes to overproduce, methods like these can provide affordable sustenance options for folks all over the world. Rice has kept many different cultures alive and thriving for hundreds of years, and I am so glad that the trend does not seem to stop.

https://phys.org/news/2018-12-rice-clones-seed.html

https://phys.org/news/2024-11-biologists-genes-trigger-embryo-formation.html