Rice Gene Makes Maize Productive; To Do the Same for Other Crops
In field trials three years ago, biotechnologists showed that they could increase maize productivity by introducing a rice gene into the plant that regulated the accumulation of sucrose in kernels, which also led to more kernels per maize plant. This promising technique is set to do the same for other crops, including wheat and rice.
The rice gene affected the performance of a natural chemical in maize, trehalose 6-phosphate (T6P), which influences sucrose distribution in the plant…
