By growing and analysing a number of strains of the mustard plant Arabidopsis, researchers have made steps toward developing plants that might be better able to adapt to climate change.
After growing the mustard plant in a range of locations – including Finland, Germany and England – the researchers then identified the genetic mutations in each plant that increased the plants’ “fitness”.
The researchers found that Arabidopsis’s preference for a particular climate was conferred by the presence of a small number of genes.
This finding might make it possible to combine various sets of “climate genes” in a single mustard plant strain, to generate a strain that would thrive in a range of climates.
Read more at Brown University