Feeding the world with wheat
Around the world, one fifth of the calories eaten by humans come from wheat, but this important crop is under threat from climate change and disease. Now, a new study has found that a collection of wheat gathered in the 1920s and 1930s could hold the key to protecting the crop for the future.
The wheat was collected by a plant scientist called Arthur Watkins. A century ago, he worked in the University of Cambridge’s plant-breeding department and during this time he collected more than 1,000 varieties of wheat from 32 countries. Over the years, some of the wheat varieties in the collection were lost but there are still 827 left.
The samples are valuable because most of the wheat varieties aren’t grown by farmers anymore. The samples are looked after by the John Innes Centre in Norwich, England.
Two teams of scientists in the UK and China worked together to analyse the wheat collection and see how each variety differed from the others. The researchers used a technique called genome sequencing (see panel, right).
A genome is the complete set of DNA (a chemical that tells each cell in every living thing how to grow and look after itself ). Short sections of DNA are called genes. The scientists analysed the genes of the 827 old wheat varieties and 208 modern types to compare the two groups. The results showed that Watkins’ wheat collection has lots of genetic diversity (differences) that modern wheat doesn’t, giving it unusual and useful characteristics.
This genetic diversity could be used to develop new and stronger types of wheat. Scientists think some of these could grow well using fewer fertilisers (substances used to make plants grow better). This could be helpful in tackling climate change because making and using these fertilisers produces greenhouse gases. These gases trap heat inside the Earth’s atmosphere and cause global temperatures to rise, which causes climate change. Other types could resist a disease called wheat blast. This often affects crops in parts of the world where the climate is damp.
Simon Griffiths, one of the wheat project’s leaders, said,
“This is going to make an enormous difference to our ability to feed the world.”
Researchers have discovered a cave on the Moon that could be used as a base by astronauts.
The cave was found by scientists from the University of Trento in
Italy. They were looking at data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a spacecraft that is being used to map the Moon’s surface by taking photographs. Looking at the images, they saw the entrance to the cave located in the Sea of Tranquility. This is a large and fairly flat area on the surface of the Moon, where US astronauts landed in 1969.
The cave seems to reach down to about 150 metres beneath the surface but scientists can’t yet tell how big it is inside. Researchers say it could be a good place to set up a lunar base, because it would protect astronauts from extreme temperatures on the surface, and also shield them from harmful space radiation that comes from the Sun’s rays.
Further research into the cave could help scientists answer more questions about the history of the Moon, because the rocks inside will be better preserved than those on the surface. They might even provide a detailed record of the Moon’s structure, billions of years ago.