Salt-loving grass genome reveals how it beats drought and salt
Nawaz K, Orduna IO, Koo DH, Molina-Freaner F, Bell HL
Climate Adaptation
The salt-crusted patches at the edge of your local marsh or coastal lawn where nothing seems to grow are exactly where this tough grass thrives, and scientists just found the genetic playbook that could bring salt-tolerant food crops to soils farmers have written off.
Saltgrass is a wiry little grass that grows in places so salty they'd kill most plants, even along ocean shorelines. Researchers sequenced its full genetic code and found it's actually a hybrid of two ancient grass lineages merged together, carrying a hidden set of genes that let it handle seawater-level salt and drought at the same time. That discovery gives breeders a genetic roadmap for turning saltgrass, or its salt-tolerance tricks, into future crops for land and water that's becoming too salty to farm.
Key Findings
Saltgrass has an allotetraploid genome of 576-610 Mb made of two fused, degenerate subgenomes, each having lost over 30% of its genes
A chromosome fusion distinguishes Distichlis spicata (2n=40) from D. stricta (2n=38), and analysis of 364 plants across 35 populations confirmed them as distinct species
An 8-Mb sex-determining region with 24 candidate genes revealed a ZW-type sex determination system, and genes activated under seawater-level salinity overlap with drought-resilience genes
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists mapped the complete genetic blueprint of saltgrass, a plant that thrives in salty soil where almost nothing else survives, uncovering the genes behind its salt tolerance and revealing it's actually two grass species fused together with separate male and female plants controlled by sex chromosomes.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Phased-genome assemblies of saltgrass reveal structural dynamics and genomic basis for extreme salt tolerance and dioecy.
The climate crisis poses a critical challenge to agriculture, with freshwater scarcity becoming a major constraint on crop production. Harnessing halophytic adaptations for growth in saline environ...
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Distichlis spicata is a species of grass known by several common names, including seashore saltgrass, inland saltgrass, and desert saltgrass. This grass is native to the Americas, where it is widespread. It can be found on other continents as well, where it is naturalized. It is extremely salt tolerant.