New Drought Resistant Plants

Several plants in Texas and Arizona have shown a natural ability to thrive in drought conditions, and Monsanto is among the companies trying to design other plants that can grow without moisture. The team of researchers at UW-Madison plans to do more experiments to see how plants can survive other problems like nutrient starvation, and cold temperatures.

Doing new research at UW-Madison scientists have discovered 50 proteins that can help plants live without water. UW bio-chemistry professor Michael Sussman hopes the discovery of the new proteins will advance those efforts.
The UW researchers found the proteins by studying a major hormone in a lab plant with a small genome. The plant is called Arabidopsis, a weed. North Carolina professor Alan Jones says past research has involved one item at a time – and the UW studies take a more global approach. California professor Sean Cutler says the new research raises intriguing possibilities. But he says it will take years to translate the discoveries into actual drought-resistant plants.