Salt tolerance is one such coveted trait. Recent research on promoting salt tolerance through transgenesis focuses on boosting salt-sequestering physiological mechanisms within species, and transferring this ability from the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana to selected crop species.
Underlying all of the approaches to making salt-tolerant crops is a nod to nature. "Organisms solved problems using their genomes for eons, through evolution. Rather than trying to outguess them, we let organisms tell us what mechanisms they can use to overcome stress," explains Ry Wagner, vice president for research at Exelixis Plant Sciences Inc. in Portland, Ore.
If going the genetically modified (GM) route to making crops salt tolerant can withstand anti-technology scrutiny, the benefits would be considerable, researchers say. "Salt tolerance is one of a number of traits that can have a major impact in both the developed and developing world by allowing crops to be grown where they normally can't, ...
