Seed World

A tomato gene that helps plants survive drought and recover after rewatering could provide breeders with a new route to developing more resilient varieties. Researchers found that increasing the activity of SlbHLH70 improved drought survival, while disabling the gene made tomato plants more vulnerable to water shortages. The gene appears to act as a regulatory hub, connecting stress detection and hormone signalling with the development of stronger roots.

Innovation in plant breeding is often discussed as if progress depends on two questions: can the science deliver, and will regulation allow it? In Europe, that is no longer enough. A new breeding technology may be scientifically robust. It may pass through the regulatory system. It may even offer clear benefits for farmers, consumers or the environment. But if it lacks public trust, it may still struggle to be accepted, adopted or defended politically.

Every bag of seed shipped across state lines carries more than seed. It carries a label. That label may look straightforward, but behind it sits a maze of federal regulations, state-specific requirements and countless details that can determine whether a shipment moves on schedule or gets stopped. Most seed companies know the routine. Someone searches state regulations, compares requirements, checks websites, makes phone calls and hopes nothing has changed since the last shipment.

I first met the Nexeed team about 12 years ago. Back then I was a field technician with Cimbria, installing optical sorters in seed processing plants around the world. Canada was one of my regular stops, and Nexeed quickly became one of the partners I worked with most closely. Today, as CIMBRIA’s Area Manager of Optical Sorters for America, that relationship is still strong. Here’s why. It’s about trust, not just equipment Anyone can sell equipment.

There’s a word I keep coming back to this week: ecosystem. Marc Zienkiewicz is senior editor for Seed World Canada Dan Wright, CEO of Seeds Canada, used it in the latest episode of On the Brink when talking about what comes next for Canadian plant breeding. With federal research cuts putting even more pressure on a system that was already being forced to rethink how it funds and organizes breeding, people understandably want a plan. A blueprint.

From native resistance that protects yield to gene silencing that could open new markets for cottonseed, public researchers and commercial breeders are expanding what genetics can deliver. Cotton breeders ask a lot of a seed. It must produce yield across environments that change dramatically across the Cotton Belt while contending with nematodes, bacterial blight, insects, heat, drought and disease. At harvest, pounds matter, but so does fiber quality. The seed carries another set of possibilities.

Scientists have identified three genes that prevent genetic recombination across large sections of plant chromosomes, raising the prospect of making previously inaccessible crop traits available to breeders. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne found that disabling CTF18, SGO2 or SPF2 allowed DNA exchanges to occur near chromosome centromeres, where recombination is normally rare or absent.

The waxy surface of a crop leaf could hold the key to preventing fungal disease before infection takes hold, according to new research from Adelaide University. Scientists found that two types of powdery mildew could germinate on artificial surfaces coated with leaf wax, even without the underlying structure of a leaf. The results suggest that chemical signals in the wax itself help fungal spores recognise a suitable host and begin growing.

She still remembers meeting one of her mentors for the first time. Thousands of people surrounded them at a professional meeting, but what stood out wasn’t his credentials or accomplishments. It was kindness. “I was scared,” she says. “The way he received me was with kindness. There was no pretension in him. There was nothing that gave me anxiety.” That encounter helped alter the trajectory of her career.

In seed testing, a few letters after someone’s name can carry a lot of weight. Registered Seed Technologists, or RSTs, work throughout our industry. We don’t always stop to consider what that designation represents. Becoming an RST requires much more than learning how to perform a test. This certification reflects a depth of knowledge that takes time, training and hands-on experience to develop. Seed testing isn’t straightforward.