Multi-million dollar grant to fund plant gene research

Katherine K. Gardiner Arizona Daily Wildcat UA plant scientist Hans J. Bohnert sits in his lab in the Biological Sciences West building yesterday. Bohnert and his research team were awarded an 8.2 million dollar grant over the next four years by the National Science Foundation to study genes of hardy plants to help farmers cope with droughts.

The grant will be split among eight labs under Bohnert's supervision, including the University of Arizona, Purdue University and Oklahoma State University labs over the next four years.

Researchers are working on identifying what genes are active in plants that naturally resist drought and salt stress. Once identified, the genes may be put in crop plants like corn in order to increase agricultural productivity. If crop plants can be genetically engineered to survive even a few extra days without water, it could make a big difference in production, Bohnert said.

Bohnert estimated that there are 2,000 to 3,000 genes associated with plants' tolerance to drought. His research team is interested in identifying every one of the genes and ranking them according to how much they contribute to resisting damage in harsh environments.

"It's the basics we are interested in," Bohnert said. "Which (genes) are the most important out of 3,000 and what do they do. And someone else will make a better plant."

From Arizona to the Middle East, crops suffer from drought and salt damage, said David Galbraith, a UA plant scientist who works with Bohnert. In the Tucson area, about 10 percent of the land is affected by salt stress, Bohnert said.

"If you drive from Tucson to Phoenix, you see cotton fields and in one corner, nothing is growing. That's salt stress," Bohnert said.

Salt builds up in soil in areas where water is brought in by irrigation. As the water is used by plants or evaporates, a salt residue is left in the soil that prevents crops from growing.

Bohnert's group is comparing plants that have a naturally high tolerance to drought and salt stress to crop plants that suffer under those conditions. Genetically speaking, there is a difference between these plants, Bohnert said.

Plants like the ice plant, which survives better in desert conditions than crops like corn, are better at absorbing water and retaining it. Plants also suffer from exposure to sunlight as people do.

"Plants have even more of a problem because they harvest light, they cannot walk away," Bohnert said.

When a plant runs out of water, critical proteins fall apart. Drought and salt-tolerant plants are more resistant to damage and are better at putting the proteins back together. Those plants have "chaperone" proteins that tend to damaged areas, Bohnert said.

If Bohnert's team can identify which genes are responsible for the production of chaperone proteins, they might one day be transferred into crop plants. Genetically engineering plants like corn to be more tolerant of harsh conditions may one day vastly improve agricultural productivity in arid climates.

"You hate to put a number on research like this," Galbraith said, "but within the next decade, we can hope to see significant progress."

Sarah Spivack can be reached via e-mail at Sarah.Spivack@wildcat.arizona.edu.