Salt-Tolerant Plants – An Agricultural Revolution

March 1, 2006

Professor Eviatar Nevo, head of the University of Haifa research team for this project, reports that they have isolated a plant gene that withstands salinity. This important discovery, he says, will make it possible to grow crops in saline earth, which could cause a revolution in agriculture around the world.

The Dead Sea is one of the most saline lakes on earth, ten times that of the ocean. Eurotium herbariorum is a common fungal species found in Dead Sea water at a depth of 300 meters (984 feet). This fungus possesses genetic mechanisms ensuring its adaptation to this extreme hyper-saline environment. The team isolated the EhHOG gene, which is responsible for the fungus’s ability to defend itself from salinity.

“The gene helps the fungus balance the internal salt content of the cell through the production of the alcohol glycerol, and this prevents the fungus from drying out and helps it defend itself against salinity,” explained Nevo.

He predicted that the research and its future applications would help end the scarcity of arable land and promote the development of agriculture in the Negev, in the area around the Dead Sea, and in other saline areas around the world.

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