News & Events

Soil salinity increasingly endangers global rice production. Although CBL-CIPK complexes are known to decode salt-induced Ca2+surges to activate ion transporters and antioxidant pathways, the in vivo role of rice OsCBL10 remains unknown, leaving a critical gap in Ca2+-mediated salt-tolerance mechanisms. In this study, we demonstrate that OsCBL10 is a tonoplast-localized Ca2+sensor that is transcriptionally up-regulated by salinity and most highly expressed in anthers and salt-stressed shoots.

A survey in Iran has examined public perceptions of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), revealing how awareness, trust, and socio-demographic factors influence attitudes toward the technology. The study assessed responses from 5,730 mostly young, urban, and educated participants across 16 provinces. The researchers found that while GM technology is generally viewed positively, knowledge remains limited. About 40% of respondents expressed positive attitudes towards GM crops, but 42% reported limited understanding of GMOs

The disruption of the Strait of Hormuz reaches further than most headlines suggest. As crude oil pushed past US$100 a barrel for the first time in four years, and urea prices rose by more than a quarter within days of the conflict in Iran, the immediate concern in most capitals was energy, security and inflation. In Africa, the calculation is different. Nearly a third of the world’s traded fertilizer passes through that narrow strip of water, and the sharpest agricultural consequences are projected to arrive in the second half of this year when farmers across our continent will be making planting decisions for the season ahead.

Horticultural crops are increasingly affected by water stress due to climate change, making the development of stress-tolerant varieties essential. In this study, we evaluated 184 multi-parent advanced generation inter-cross (MAGIC) eggplant lines under water stress conditions, consisting of irrigation at 30% of field capacity. After 21 days of stress, we assessed growth-related traits, water content, plant pigments, and proline content. The MAGIC population showed high variability for water stress tolerance, with several transgressive lines surpassing parental values.

Most economically important crops cannot survive long periods of severe floods. Thus, researchers look to wild plant families with inherent submergence traits. However, most of these wild crops are difficult to study at a genetic level. Scientists at the University of Bayreuth, Germany, reported yellow marshcress (Rorippa islandica) as a breakthrough candidate because of its simple genetic structure and ability to survive submergence. Their findings are published in Plant Physiology.

The Accelerated Crop Improvement (ACI) Program leads the development of ICRISAT’s efforts to improve dryland crop varieties for Africa, Asia, and beyond.The Program employs advanced technologies and innovative approaches to develop improved crop varieties with desirable traits such as increased yield, better nutritional quality, and enhanced resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses.

Most crop species cannot survive prolonged flooding events. Within the Cardamineae tribe of the Brassicaceae family, several wild species display high flooding tolerance and are therefore attractive study systems to unravel tolerance mechanisms. However the genetic recalcitrance of many of these species has prevented detailed mechanistic studies of observed tolerance traits. Here, Rorippa islandica was identified as a genetically accessible diploid species with high submergence tolerance.

Bioengineers from Stanford University have developed a new protein engineering method that can design, build, and test protein variants in just 24 hours. The technique, called MIDAS or Microbe-Independent Deep Assembly and Screening, could accelerate research in medicine, biotechnology, and environmental science by simplifying how proteins are engineered and tested.

ICRISAT’s study, “Restoration potential of degraded landscapes for strengthening rural livelihoods,” presents compelling evidence from Bundelkhand, India, tracking watershed-driven transformation and showing how Pura Birdha village moved from drought-stricken conditions to water surplus.

With an exceptional energy density and high polyunsaturated fatty acid content, maize oil positions high-oil maize as multifunctional feedstocks. Exploring the genetic architecture of oil content (OC) in maize kernel is crucial for breeding high-oil maize varieties. Herein, a combination of genome-wide association study and linkage mapping was employed to explore the quantitative trait loci (QTL) and candidate genes underlying the OC in maize kernel under four environments.

A team of engineers at the University of Florida has developed the world's first CRISPR system that uses DNA instead of RNA to guide gene-editing enzymes. Published in Nature Biotechnology, the breakthrough challenges the long-standing assumption that RNA must be used as the guide in CRISPR-based RNA editing tools.

Under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-funded Fertilize Right (FerRight) project, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), in collaboration with the Plant Production and Protection Department (PPD) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (MAE) and the Department of Agriculture and Environment (DAE) of Can Tho City, teamed up to scale efforts in implementing a government program that focuses on the sustainable development of one million hectares of low-emission rice cultivation in the Mekong Delta region by 2030 (the 1mHa Program).