carbon from the
atmosphere, and
bury the carbon-
rich suberin deep
in the soil.
carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere
(negative
emissions) but
that can also help
enrich soils and
increase crop
yields.”
A Howard Hughes
Medical Institute
investigator
and recipient
of the 2018
Breakthrough
Prize and the
2018 Gruber Prize
in Genetics for
her work in plant
biology, Chory
presented the
key elements of
the initiative in
a nine-minute
speech before an
audience of 2,000
people attending
the TED annual
conference in
Vancouver, British
Columbia, on April
16, 2019.
The Harnessing
Plants Initiative
Joanne Chory at
the 2019 TED Talks
The Harnessing
Plants Initiative Leadership Team - which includes Salk
faculty Wolfgang Busch, Joseph Ecker, Julie Law and Joseph
Noel - aims to use a combination of cutting-edge technologies
to turbocharge plants’ ability to capture and store larger
amounts of carbon from the atmosphere in their roots and keep
it buried in the ground for hundreds of years.
The key to the Harnessing Plants Initiative’s plan lies in a
substance called suberin (one form of stem suberin is cork), a
naturally occurring carbon-rich substance found in plant roots
that resists decomposition. By understanding and improving
several genetic pathways in plants, the Salk team will develop
plants that grow bigger, more robust root systems containing
an increased amount of suberin to absorb larger amounts of
Once the Salk
team has
developed ways
to increase
suberin in model
plants, they will
transfer these
genetic traits to
six prevalent crop
plants. In addition
to mitigating
climate change,
the additional
carbon in the
soil will make
the soil richer in
organic matter,
while making the
plants resilient to
stress caused by
climate change,
prompting better
crop yields and
more food for a
growing global
population.
In a related
but distinct project, the team will also focus on restoration of
coastal plants that constitute some of the most powerful carbon
sinks on the planet. Restoring these systems will allow coastal
plants to thrive and store more carbon while also reinvigorating
fisheries, rejuvenating coral reefs, and aiding in coastal
restoration efforts.
Donors of this innovative initiative through The Audacious
Project include the Clara Wu and Joe Tsai Foundation, Chris
Larsen and Lyna Lam, Lyda Hill Philanthropies, Genevieve and
Steve Jurvetson, Rosamund Zander and Hansjörg Wyss for the
Wyss Medical Foundation, Joe Gebbia and Isabelle Boemeke,
and others.
www.salk.edu/harnessing-plants-initiative
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