They propose to genetically modify rice to adapt it to climate change

Scientists and the rice sector are ready to use the new gene editing tools to develop rice varieties more adapted to climate change, although they fear that European legislation will put a brake on transgenic rice.

This has been expressed by more than a hundred international experts in rice genetics who have met in Barcelona (Spain) in the framework of the 18th International Symposium on Functional Rice Genomics, focused on the impact of climate change on the cultivation of this cereal .

During the symposium, the first to be held in Spain and the third in Europe and in which Asian representatives have had to participate telematically due to the restrictions to travel due to the covid, industrialists, farmers, scientists and the administration have discussed the challenges that climate change poses for the sector.

The CSIC research professor at the Center for Research in Agrigenomics (CRAG), Blanca San Segundo, responsible for the organization of the congress, explained that “rice, the main food for many of the world’s population, is a crop that, on the one hand it contributes to climate change, and on the other hand it is especially threatened by it “.

According to San Segundo, in the Mediterranean regions, climate change translates into an increase in the salinity of the soils, a lack of water resources and a higher incidence of pests that affect rice fields.

This makes it necessary to use fertilizers and pesticides to maintain high production levels in an increasingly competitive market due to pressure from Asian countries.

Furthermore, in Spain, there is the paradox that rice is grown in areas of environmentally protected natural spaces (Natural Parks of Delta del Ebro and Albufera de Valencia and Doñana National Park), which are likely to receive the direct impact of use indiscriminate use of agrochemicals.

“To overcome these difficulties it is necessary to introduce new strategies to maintain the competitiveness of rice cultivation, without affecting these natural spaces,” defended San Segundo, who has pointed to the exploitation of the natural genetic variability of rice.

At the symposium they have presented results of sequencing studies of the genomes of thousands of varieties of cultivated and wild rice, which allow us to know the genetics and biology behind agronomic traits such as the resistance of the plant to pyricurialosis (a disease produced by a fungus), tolerance to salinity or the nutritional quality of the grain.

This knowledge can be translated into new varieties of rice that are more environmentally sustainable, obtained through traditional breeding techniques or by biotechnology, according to experts.

“At the symposium we have seen that using the CRISPR gene editing tool is absolutely feasible in rice and can bring you many advantages: varieties improved in starch and amylose content, more tolerant to salinity or resistant to some of the most common pathogens”, according to the CRAG scientist.

“All of this – he has pointed out – must be done in parallel to recovering varieties that may be better adapted to current environmental conditions and needs.”

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Josep Maria Casacuberta, CSIC researcher at the CRAG and expert on issues at the European Food Safety Authority, explained that current European legislation “does not adjust well” to the use of new genomic editing tools and that it also makes “It is practically unfeasible, due to the high cost and time, to approve genetically edited crops in Europe.”

However, the researchers have explained that the genetic modifications that could be introduced into crops using the CRISPR tool could be the same as those produced by traditional mutagenesis methods, which are considered safe by the European Directive itself.

The participants in the symposium have agreed that “it is necessary to update this legislation based on current scientific knowledge, and train the consumer to understand that plants, like us, also have genes and mutations.” (I)