Scientists unlock genetic secrets of Antarctic plant

A team led by Chilean scientists has produced the most complete genetic map to date of one of only two flowering plants that naturally grow in Antarctica, a breakthrough that could help pave the way for the development of crops capable of withstanding extreme weather, Reuters reports.

Colobanthus quitensis has long attracted scientific interest because it can survive freezing temperatures, water scarcity and high levels of ultraviolet radiation in Antarctica, one of the coldest and driest environments on Earth, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.

With record-breaking heat and prolonged drought increasing the urgency of adapting agriculture to changing climate conditions in many parts of the world, scientists say they are now ready to assess whether the plant’s traits could be transferred to agricultural crops using gene-editing techniques.

The study, published in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution, edited by Oxford University Press, brings together 40 chromosome-level assemblies that make up the plant’s genetic blueprint as part of a project called Polarix.

“We managed to sequence and assemble the entire genome,” said Eduardo Castro, an associate researcher at the International Cape Horn Center in Chile and the study’s lead author alongside Claudio Meneses of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

“The idea is not to create transgenic plants. The idea is to edit the genome of a plant with nutritional value,” Castro said.

Identifying individual genes becomes easier once the genome has been mapped, although the process can take time. Once that work is completed, Castro said scientists would need five to 10 years to develop commercial applications.

A team from California supported the Chilean researchers, who said their work built on earlier efforts by South Korea’s Polar Research Institute. That research produced only a partial version of the genome and was never published.

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