This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Research scientist Ashish Rajurkar kneels in the dirt, lifting a large clod of soil tangled around a soybean plant. He knocks away pieces of earth from the plant's roots, which slope straight down instead of out to the side like typical soybean plants.
Researchers hope roots like these could help crops withstand some effects of climate change while also drawing more carbon from the atmosphere and storing it underground. Carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels traps heat in the atmosphere, driving human-caused climate change. For years, scientists have explored ways to remove some of that carbon from the atmosphere, including through direct air capture, changes to ocean chemistry so seawater can absorb more carbon, and reforestation.
Now, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies are testing whether deeper root systems could become another tool. But scientists still need to show how much additional carbon those roots can store under real farming conditions, how long the carbon would remain underground and whether the crops can maintain yields. An $18 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund will help Salk researchers test those questions in the field by measuring how resilient these plants are to drought and other climate stressors, how much carbon they can store and for how long, and how to get the plants onto farms at scale.
Wolfgang Busch, director of the institute's Harnessing Plants Initiative, said the issue is pressing. "We are actually steering in a direction that is very concerning," he said. "It will become harder to grow enough food for enough people." Over the last six years, Salk scientists uncovered the genetic information of hundreds of versions of common row crop plants such as soybeans and sorghum from around the world, creating an "encyclopedia" of plant genomes, said Todd Michael, a research professor at the institute.
After identifying 347 genes related to carbon storage and root growth, scientists were able to edit the plants' DNA and create ones with roots that penetrate the soil further down. "We wanted to leverage the natural variation of a given plant," Michael said. "We just have to be able to make the right crosses to bring in those genetics." During droughts, they hope the roots will allow plants to access water below the top layer of soil while also storing carbon farther underground, where it may be less vulnerable to being released when farmers till their fields.
Researchers are also trying to boost carbon storage by growing larger root systems so more carbon-rich plant material is left in the soil, and by increasing suberin, a cork-like substance in roots that contains carbon and decomposes more slowly than many other plant tissues. Researchers hypothesize that more steeply shaped root systems may also allow farmers to plant more crops in a smaller area, potentially increasing yield. Salk scientists think longer, bigger roots could also absorb more nitrogen and other fertilizer runoff, which can cause algae blooms and lead to low-oxygen environments that kill marine life.
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