As part of the research done by Ohio State scientists, maize will become resistant to biotic and abiotic stressors, viral and fungal diseases, insect damage and drought. Credit: Courtesy of TNS
Ohio State scientists have teamed up with researchers across the country for a project that will use insects, often an enemy of crops, to make crops resistant to environmental stresses.
The research, referred to as Insect Allies- Team Maize Hopper, is co-led by Peg Redinbaugh, an adjunct professor of plant pathology at Ohio State’s CFAES research and development center, and Guo-Liang Wang, an Ohio State geneticist and professor of plant pathology.
Typically, viruses that cause disease in plants are moved from plant to plant by insects, said Redinbaugh, who also is a research leader with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service.
“For this project, the idea was, ‘Can we take that system and kind of turn it on its head?” she said. “We can make the [insect] do something good instead of doing something bad.”
Redinbaugh said insects such as aphids and leafhoppers will be infected with a virus that spreads to maize plants when the insect feeds, making the maize resistant to biotic and abiotic stressors, viral and fungal diseases, insect damage and drought.
The insects must die afterwards to ensure they do not spread the viruses elsewhere.
The project relies on a fairly new technology called CRISPR-Cas9 that can modify a DNA sequence in plants, animals and humans, Wang said.
“In humans, you have mutations you carry from your ancestors,” he said. “[CRISPR] can modify that DNA sequence, correct that one gene, then you will become healthy. So if these plants have a gene susceptible to a disease, this CRISPR enzyme can modify that gene, making the plant become resistant.”
While plant breeders are able to breed crops that are resistant to certain stressors, this technology would not be a replacement for breeding. It could, however, be used for emergency events, Redinbaugh said.
“Breeding takes a long time,” she said. “Getting a new maize hybrid that’s resistant –– that’s years. So that’s not going to work if there’s a sudden change that I want to protect the maize against.”
For example, Ohio farmers often decide against growing corn that is resistant to drought.
“In the Midwest, we don’t have an irrigation system … so we are reliant on the weather,” Wang said.
If farmers have already planted their crops and a severe drought is in the forecast, this system could save their crops, he added.
While Redinbaugh said the technology will be useful in the U.S., she believes it will be especially useful in developing countries where farmers are especially dependent on their crops.
“They sell some of their crop and part of that money, the cash that they get from that, sends their kids to school,” Redinbaugh said. “So if they lose a crop… they lose food for their family, so that’s food security, they lose their ability to sell their crop, and that affects the education for the next generation”
Guo-Liang Wang, an Ohio State geneticist and professor of plant pathology, is helping lead the research to make crops resistant to environmental stresses. Credit: Kaylee Harter | Lantern reporter
Funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, an entity within the Department of Defense, the project could be worth up to $10 million if all the phases are completed. While DARPA might be thought of as an agency that funds military and technology projects, DARPA often funds biological projects like the one Wang and Redinbaugh are working on.
In trying to explain why DARPA values funding these sorts of projects, Wang summarized its thoughts by saying, “They have the money and they say, ‘OK, we’ll fund some project in agriculture which could be used in disaster and emergency situations and prepare that technology.”
The project is currently in the first of three phases, all of which will be carried out over a period of four years.
With many variables involved in the project come many challenges, Wang said. These challenges include finding a virus that will infect the maize plant without causing symptoms and finding the best insect-virus combination to make changes in the complicated maize genome.
Despite these challenges, Wang said they are optimistic.
He credited this optimism to the diverse skills of the 11 scientists working on this project from various fields such as entomology, virology and molecular biology.
Aside from the agricultural benefits, Wang and Redinbaugh both said they expect more general benefits in the scientific world.
“I’m really pleased that we’ve been able to have this opportunity,” Redinbaugh said. “In addition to the end-results that we’ve been talking about, all of us feel like the work that we’re doing along the way could really help change how science gets done in each of our individual disciplines.”
Editor’s note (1/16): This article has been updated to accurately reflect the value of the Insect Allies- Team Maize Hopper project. It also has been updated to accurately reflect the frequency with which DARPA funds biological research.
