China discovers game-changing rice gene to boost production by 38%

Chinese scientists have identified a crucial gene that could revolutionize the production of hybrid rice seeds.

Traditionally, hybrid rice production involves painstaking manual labor to separate the hybrid seeds from the restorative seeds, a process that consumes time and resources.

Addressing this challenge, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Hainan Seed Industry Laboratory and the National Rice Research Institute of China have introduced a gene that facilitates the mechanized separation of hybrid rice seeds.

“Hybrid rice has achieved high grain yield and contributes greatly to food security, but the labor-intensive hybrid seed production process limits fully mechanized hybrid rice breeding,” the team pointed out in their latest study.

This discovery promises to simplify current labor-intensive methods and significantly increase breeding efforts.

The role of the GSE3 gene in the development of hybrid rice

The critical factor for this discovery is the discovery of the GSE3 gene, which allows scientists to create rice varieties with smaller and larger grains. This genetic modification simplifies the process of mechanically separating hybrid seeds from the rest of the crop using basic sieving techniques.

The team conducted field trials demonstrating that rice lines equipped with the GSE3 gene did not compromise hybrid seed numbers; in fact, they saw a noticeable increase of 21 to 38 percent.

This finding highlights the potential of GSE3 in increasing the efficiency and productivity of hybrid rice production.

Advances in hybrid rice technology

China, a leader in growing hybrid rice, has gained significantly higher yields from the use of hybridization. Over the past few decades, hybrid rice has increased rice yields by 20 to 30 percent, boosting global food security efforts.

“The restorer line should be grown next to the male sterile line in separate rows to provide enough pollen for hybridization. To avoid seed contamination, manual labor is used to remove the restorer line before harvesting the hybrid seeds,” the researchers explained, highlighting current inefficiencies in seed production.

Mechanized seed separation and future applications

The discovery involves crossing the “super-hybrid rice” Tianyouhuazhan (TYHZ) with the Xiaoligeng variety to create a male sterile line (XQA) with smaller grain size facilitated by the GSE3 gene. This line is then mated to a large grain size (DHZ) restorer line, enabling mechanical separation of the hybrid seeds from the larger restorer seeds.

After thorough testing, the team achieved 96 percent purity for the hybrid seeds using a basic sieve, meeting commercial requirements.

This method provides a viable alternative to traditional manual separation techniques, which typically achieve 96 to 98 percent purity.

Gene editing for future agricultural innovations

Additionally, the researchers used CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology to simplify the integration of GSE3 into rice lines, overcoming conventional breeding challenges. This method speeds up breeding and could expand the use of GSE3 to other crops, revolutionizing the production of hybrid seeds in agriculture.

“This research is an important step toward fully mechanized hybrid rice breeding,” the team concluded, emphasizing the transformative impact of their findings on global agricultural practices.

The research was published in the journal Plants of nature.