Our idea was to identify the biochemicals responsible for triggering this process. Therefore, a lot of research was going on with my collaborators, Dr Matthew Paul and Dr Benjamin Davis. We identified the Trehalose-6- Phosphate( T6P) as a molecule that triggers this starch production process.
special interview
Our idea was to identify the biochemicals responsible for triggering this process. Therefore, a lot of research was going on with my collaborators, Dr Matthew Paul and Dr Benjamin Davis. We identified the Trehalose-6- Phosphate( T6P) as a molecule that triggers this starch production process.
working on this invention for close to 9 years now. There were lot of failures in this journey. The success didn’ t come early. We made molecule and failed because those were not well taken by the plant. Since, we were making something outside the plant, it all depended on whether plants were happy to take it or not.
What is noteworthy is that this method does not rely on genetic modifications to create super-yields or combat climate change and therefore offers a viable alternative to GM technology. The process ensures that there is no adverse impact on either plant or animal health or on the environment, making it more acceptable to countries such as India that have been mindful of genetic modification technology being introduced in agriculture. This is also a marked improvement over current hybrid technology used by agri-scientists.
The genetic engineering is the process where scientists permanently delete few genes. And then they introduce few more genes to get desired features. While they delete the so called unwanted genes which are claimed to be no feature, those could be found to be useful after twenty. It is irreversible.
However, as compared to it, we can reverse back here in our case. Since, you insist on a name of the process, we may give it a fancy name, we can call it chemical genetics approach. Our process is far reliable than the genetic modification approach.
Why did you choose wheat as a crop for carrying out research? Why is it important?
You know in India as well as the globe, wheat is the primary food item. Also, the wheat is having more starch and we were trying the starch synthesis process. Although the Arabidopsis thaliana was used initially as it is followed as a standard in laboratory, we later shifted to wheat after validation.
The discovery is also important given the fact that average yields for wheat in India is below that of average yields seen in other countries. For example, India’ s average yield is 39 percent lower than China’ s. Except Punjab and Haryana,
54 BioVoiceNews | May 2017