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Dec. 3 – Researchers in China have uncovered how rice detects heat stress and identified specific genes that enable the crop to better withstand high temperatures. This breakthrough offers a promising strategy to combat yield reductions linked to climate change, which continues to threaten global food security.
A team led by Lin Hongxuan, a scholar at the Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, decoded the dual mechanisms behind how rice senses and reacts to elevated temperatures. The findings were published today in the journal Cell.
The study, conducted in collaboration with teams from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Guangzhou Laboratory, reveals a detailed process through which rice plants perceive heat stress. By genetically adjusting this system, scientists have created new rice varieties with varying levels of heat tolerance. This advancement opens doors for molecular breeding efforts aimed at producing more heat-resilient crops.
Researchers can now tailor a crop’s heat tolerance to match specific regional climates, much like turning a knob to adjust volume, ensuring stable yields in hotter conditions.
High temperatures compromise rice production and quality by damaging pollen vitality, interfering with pollination, and disrupting grain filling. This diminishes the productivity of key grain-producing regions and has become a pressing and immediate global food security concern.
After years of dedicated research, the team identified two critical regulatory factors that address a long-standing scientific puzzle. Field tests simulating extreme heat conditions showed that the improved rice strains yielded 50 to 100 percent more grain without reducing output under normal weather.
The findings mark a significant step forward in developing climate-resilient rice varieties capable of thriving amid rising temperatures.
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