Jill Farrant: How we can make crops survive without water
ג'יל פרנט: איך אנחנו יכולים לגרום ליבולים לשרוד בלי מים
Jill Farrant is leading the development of drought-tolerant crops to nourish populations in arid climates. Full bio
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extremely drought-tolerant crops,
יבולים עמידים ביותר לבצורת,
to providing food security in the world,
לספק ביטחון תזונתי בעולם,
droughted state.
that these plants look dead,
start growing, in 12 to 48 hours.
יתחילו לגדול, תוך 12 עד 48 שעות.
will go towards providing food security?
יעזור חלקית לספק ביטחון תזונתי?
is around 7 billion.
היא בערך 7 מיליארד.
happening in Africa.
organizations of the world
a 70 percent increase
are at the base of the food chain,
to have to come from plants.
the potential effects of climate change.
של שינוי האקלים.
published in 2011,
of climate change
amongst other things --
or infrequent rain.
used for agriculture,
because of lack of rainfall.
that's predicted to happen in 2050.
in fact, much of the world,
very smart ways of producing food.
מאוד חכמות ליצר אוכל.
some drought-tolerant crops.
עמידים לבצורת.
to remember about Africa is
is not the easiest thing in the world.
זה לא הדבר הכי קל בעולם.
metabolizing organisms,
שיש להם מטאבוליזם פעיל,
of water results in death.
אנחנו מתים.
changes to avoid that.
שינוי התנהגותי כדי להמנע מכך.
a little bit more water than us,
a little bit more than us,
depending on the species,
to resist or avoid water loss.
can be found in succulents.
יכולה להמצא בסקולנטים.
at such great cost
בכזו עלות גבוהה
are found in trees and shrubs.
נמצאות בעצים ושיחים.
it through them at all times,
of roots to shoots is so great
בין השורשים לגבעולים כל כך גדול
has been planted upside down.
for hydration of that plant.
of avoidance is found in annuals.
להמנעות נמצאת בצמחים עונתיים.
of our plant food supplies.
אספקת המזון מצמחים שלנו.
you don't see much vegetation growth.
הרבה גדילה של צמחיה.
they produce a seed,
that dry and still alive,
is lie in extremes of environment
לחכות במצבים קיצוניים
of desiccation-tolerant seeds
or angiosperms, onto land.
as our major form of food supplies.
לאספקת האוכל שלנו.
of our plant food supplies.
מאספקת המזון שלנו.
you can produce a lot of seed.
אתם יכולים לייצר הרבה זרעים.
so there's a lot of food calories,
כך שיש הרבה קלוריות מזון,
for times of famine,
בזמנים של שפע לזמנים של רעב,
avoidance or tolerance characteristics.
to help them survive the rest of the year.
efforts in agriculture
to understand how those work --
להבין איך אלה עובדים --
of their cellular water,
95 אחוז מהמים התאיים שלהם,
for months to years,
במשך חודשים עד שנים,
desiccation-tolerant.
of environmental conditions.
במצבים סביבתיים קיצוניים.
plant species that can do this.
שיכולים לעשות את זה.
of these three species
so you can see how quickly it happens.
כמה מהר זה מתרחש.
trying to understand how they do this.
בלנסות להבין איך הם עושים את זה.
of different resurrection plants,
of these plants serves as a model
to make drought-tolerant.
for example, is a grass,
called Eragrostis tef --
to make drought-tolerant.
at a number of plants,
do they do the same thing?
all that water and not die?
את כל המים ולא למות?
a systems biology approach
גישת המערכת הביולוגית
a comprehensive understanding
ecophysiological level.
as they dried out
which is just a term for a technology
שהוא פשוט המושג לטכנולוגיה
in response to drying.
so we look at the proteome.
אז אנחנו מביטים בפרוטאום.
in response to drying?
which make metabolites,
לאנזימים שעושים מטבוליזה,
because plants are stuck in the ground.
a highly tuned chemical arsenal
ארסנל כימיקלי מכוונן מאוד
the stresses of their environment.
של הסביבה שלהם.
involved in drying.
that we do at the molecular level,
are made of lipids.
עשויות ליפידים.
because they're in water.
those membranes fall apart.
to turn on genes.
and biochemical studies
במחקרים פיזיולוגיים וביוכימיקלים
the function of the putative protectants
in our other studies.
to try and understand
with its natural environment.
I needed a comprehensive understanding
שהייתי צריכה הבנה מעמיקה
for a biotic application.
genetically modified crops?"
יבולים מהונדסים גנטית?"
of genetic modification.
wheat, rice and maize,
חיטה, אורז ותירס,
from their ancestors,
by conventional breeding.
resurrection plant genes into crops,
של צמחים שחוזרים לחיים לתוך היבולים,
we have tried that approach.
some of my collaborators at UCT,
upon an extremely ambitious approach,
בגישה שאפתנית ביותר,
whole suites of genes
under extreme drought conditions.
תחת מצבי בצורת קיצוניים.
מהונדסים גננטית או לא.
some of the data from that first approach.
חלק מהמידע מהגישה הראשונה הזו.
about how genes work.
of double-stranded DNA.
of your body or in a plant's body.
of this gene, the next gene will start.
simple on-off switches.
מתגי הפעלה-כיבוי פשוטים.
a lot of fine-tuning,
before that gene is switched on.
לפני שהגן הזה מופעל.
in biotech studies
and see how the plant responds.
to talk to you about,
a drought-induced promoter,
in a resurrection plant.
is that we do nothing.
הוא שאנחנו לא עושים כלום.
genes from resurrection plants.
נוגדי חמצון מצמחים שחוזרים לתחיה.
particularly drought stress,
and can cause crop death.
זה לעצור את הנזק הזה.
that's very popularly used in Africa.
שמאוד פופולרי באפריקה.
are plants without the genes,
do a hell of a lot better.
that there's considerable similarity
in seeds and resurrection plants.
בזרעים וצמחים שחוזרים לחיים.
evolved in seed desiccation tolerance
בגנים שהתפתחו בצמחים עמידי בצורת
of resurrection plants?
of research from my group
of Henk Hilhorst in the Netherlands,
מהקבוצה של הנק הילהורסט בהולנד,
that are involved in both.
very crudely for maize,
מאוד בגסות עבור תירס,
for desiccation tolerance.
at the end of their period of development,
בסוף תקופת ההתפתחות שלהם,
switch on the same genes
in their roots and leaves,
and cellular signals
in resurrection plants,
בצמחים שחוזרים לחיים,
in the evolution of resurrection plants
באבולוציה של הצמחים החוזרים לחיים
for your attention.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jill Farrant - Professor of molecular and cell biologyJill Farrant is leading the development of drought-tolerant crops to nourish populations in arid climates.
Why you should listen
A professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa, Jill Farrant researches the remarkable (and little known) world of resurrection plants. These are plants that can survive extreme drought, “resurrecting” when moistened or irrigated. If we can better understand their natural preservation mechanisms and their key protectants, she suggests, it could help us develop more drought-tolerant crops to feed populations in increasingly dry and arid climates around the world. Her research may also have medical applications.
Farrant was the African/Arab States recipient of the 2012 L'Oreal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science, one of only five scientists worldwide who were selected by an international jury as "researchers who will have a major impact on society and help light the way to the future." In 2009, she was awarded an A-rating by the National Research Foundation (the first female researcher at UCT ever to receive such a rating) as well as being made a member of the UCT College of Fellows.
Jill Farrant | Speaker | TED.com