Grand Green Challenges

Question 1

Grand Green challenges

Answer 1

Using molecular plant sciences to increased world food production

Question 2

A growing world pop

Answer 2

• 2000: 6 bill
• 2050: 9.7 bill
• 2080: 10.4 bill

Question 3

The silent pandemic

Answer 3

• 1bn suffer from famine + malnutrition
• 9 million due to the big 3 combined
• 6.3 million COVID-19: ‘20-‘22

Question 4

Fluctuating food prices

Answer 4

• health is an economic concern
• sociopolitical factors
• climate and weather

Question 5

Ukraine global shares

Answer 5

• wheat: 10%
• corn: 15%
• barley: 13%

Question 6

Other plant uses

Answer 6

• animal feed (corn, grass, soybean)
• biofuels (soybeans, sugarcane, rapeseed, palm oil)
• fibres (cotton, flax, paper, hemp)
• construction (wood, bamboo, straw)
• fertiliser (seaweed, legumes, compost)
• horticulture (cut flowers, out/in-door plants)
• medication/recreation (artemisinin, taxol, morphine, nicotine, caffeine)
• molecular pharming
• phytoremediation

Question 7

Solutions to improve food production

Answer 7

1. Farm more land; No
2. Increase yields ; yes
3. Lifestyle changes ; yes

Question 8

Land use for food production

Answer 8

• 50% habitable land
• 77% for meat and dairy (including feed)

Question 9

Crops

Answer 9

• 82% calories
• 63% proteins

Question 10

Changing our food choice will drastically

Answer 10

< land use

Question 11

Additional challenges

Answer 11

• climate change (less land and less predictable water)
• pollution (less fertiliser, less pesticides)

Question 12

Less land

Answer 12

• urbanisation
• rewilding
• non-food crops
• climate change

Question 13

Less predictable water

Answer 13

• less underground water
• salinification

Question 14

Less fertiliser

Answer 14

• N and P runoff; eutrophication; algal blooms; < biodiversity

Question 15

Less pesticides

Answer 15

• vapour drift
• environmental + human health

Question 16

Main crops (>10M km^2)

Answer 16

1. Wheat
2. Maize
3. Rice
4. Barley
5. Sugarcane
6. Soybean
7. Cassava
8. Rapeseed

Question 17

Land use per crop type

Answer 17

1) cereals (wheat, rice)
2) coarse grains (maize, barley, oat)
3) oilcrops (rapeseed, palm)
4) pulses (soy, bean, pea)
5) roots, tubers (potato, cassava)
6) fruits (citrus, banana)
7) vegetables (tomato, lettuce)
8) tree nuts (almonds, cashew)

Question 18

Europe

Answer 18

1) wheat
2) barley
3) maize
4) rapeseed

Question 19

Americas

Answer 19

1) soybean
2) maize
3) wheat
4) sugarcane

Question 20

Africa

Answer 20

1. Maize
2. Cassava
3. Rice
4. Wheat

Question 21

Asia:

Answer 21

1. Rice
2. Wheat
3. Maize
4. Soybean

Question 22

How to grow a crop plant…

Answer 22

• synchronously
• in optimal soil
• w/ optimal nutrients
• @ optimal water levels
• w/o disease, pests or weeds
  A craft!

Question 23

Crop domestication

Answer 23

Selection over millennia

Question 24

Domestication syndrome

Answer 24

1) no fruit abscission
2) more, bigger fruits
3) circadian interference
4) determinate growth
5) colour variation
6) no vernalisation
7) ^ seed no
8) < seed shattering
9) < height
10) < dormancy

Question 25

Conventional breeding

Answer 25

• trait introgression
• limited by reproductive barriers
• use high production varieties

Question 26

Marker-assisted breeding

Answer 26

• use background markers to select F1 progeny with most recurrent parent markets
• smallest % donor genome
• e.g. virescence mutants

Question 27

Marker-assisted breeding

Answer 27

• use background markers to select F1 progeny with most recurrent parent markets
• smallest % donor genome
• e.g. virescence mutants

Question 28

Speed breeding

Answer 28

• accelerate life cycles (increase generation no/ year)
• photoperiod modifications (flowering; temperature, earlier reproduction; circadian clock)

Question 29

How to ^ genetic variation

Answer 29

1) ^ germplasm (create seed stock centres)
2) mutagenesis (chemical [EMS]/radiation [UV/gamma])
3) trans/cis gene transformation (not in EU)
4) genome editing: Precision Breeding Act

Question 30

CRISPR-Cas9

Answer 30

• ORF disruption (indel)
• gene deletion
• base edits
• replacement (inefficient HR in plants)

Question 31

Precision breeding

Answer 31

Genetic changes which could have arisen through traditional breeding or natural processes

Question 32

Advantages of CRISPR-Cas9

Answer 32

Can be:
- transgene-free
- DNA-free (VIGE)

Question 33

Key challenges of the future

Answer 33

1) drought-resistance
2) flood resistance
3) disease resistance
4) low N; nodulation
5) low P; AM symbiosis
6) improved photosynthesis
7) flowering time
8) morphology

Question 34

Germination

Answer 34

• problem: low viability, low vigour, dormant seeds
• solution: QC, seed coating, priming
• e.g. sprouting wheat ears w no dormancy

Question 35

Cold/frost damage

Answer 35

• problem: growing ice crystals disrupt cell structures
• solutions: adjust germination/ flowering times; acclimation; antifreeze proteins; cryoprotectants (trehalose, proline)

Question 36

Biofortification

Answer 36

• problem: low nutritional value (vitamins, minerals, AAs)
• solution: metabolic engineering (breeding / GM Crops)
• e.g. golden rice (vitA); wheat (selenium); beans (iron)

Question 37

Morphology

Answer 37

• problem: can we domesticate faster (via crop engineering?)
• solutions: domestication genes

Question 38

New crops!

Answer 38

• problem: susceptible, low-yielding, monoculture
• solutions: domesticate other wild plants
• e.g. quinoa (seeds), echium (oil), nettle (fibre)

Question 39

Weed control

Answer 39

• problem: environmental impact; herbicide R
• solutions: safer herbicides; safeners; Roundup GMO; precision farming