DNA hidden in ancient crops may be key to food security

Could the key to securing the world’s food supply for the future be hidden in the DNA of crops from the distant past?

Scientists in Israel are creating a gene bank from the seeds of local wild crops, some that have survived for thousands of years since the birth of agriculture and may help farmers deal with a harsher climate in the coming decades. In a eucalyptus grove nestled between an industrial zone and a new railroad under construction, botanist Alon Singer collected seeds from a number of plants, including a variety of water mint, which will be frozen and stored at the Israel Plant Gene Bank at the Volcani Institute.

Singer and others are combing the country in search of varieties of wheat, barley and other wild crops so their genetic makeup can be saved and studied before they are lost to expanding deserts and urbanisation.

“The plants here are unique. “They are the ancestors of many of the cultivated plants

used today,” he said.

Resilient characteristics can be harnessed to genetically modify farmed crops so that they better withstand drought or disease.

Tens of thousands of types of seeds are stored in the gene bank.

It may be smaller than some collections elsewhere in the world, but the gene pool is unique, as it comes from an area that was part of the Fertile Crescent region, which is known as the birthplace of crop cultivation.

“This is where agriculture started about 10,000 years ago,” gene bank director Einav Mayzlish-gati said.

“Species that were domesticated here are still in the wild adapting along the years to the changes in the environment.”

The research is already paying off. The institute has engineered a variety of wheat with an ultra-short life cycle.

It may not be able to compete today, but it could be a saving grace in a hotter climate with reduced growing seasons.