Japan Develops Gene-edited Barley That's Best For Brewing Beer

Japanese scientists have used the gene-editing tool CRISPR to produce a mutant species of barley that avoids premature sprouting. Barley is used in everything from breads, cereals, animal fodder, and of course as a source of malt for alcoholic beverages including beer and whisky.

Photo Insert: The strategic manipulation crops stemmed from the need to weather the effects of steadily exacerbating climate change.

Barley farmers have been bothered by the pre-harvest sprouting of barley, when high humidity due to unexpected rain in the lead up to harvest causes premature germination, significantly devaluing the grain.

Scientists have been working to solve this dilemma for years, and through the CRISPR gene-editing tool, a team at Okoyama University believe they have landed on a solution, Nick Lavars reported for New Atlas.

“We recognized the need to strategically manipulate crops to weather the effects of steadily exacerbating climate change," says Dr. Hiroshi Hisano, who led the study.

"Since our collaborative research group had already developed expertise in precision genome editing of barley, we decided to go with the same initially. Also, previous studies have pinpointed specific grain and seed dormancy genes in barley, called qsd1, and qsd2. Hence, our modus operandi was pretty clear.”

The scientists used a species of barley known as Golden Promise as their starting point and used CRISPR to create genetically engineered versions with mutants of either one or both of these dormancy genes.

All of these mutants exhibited a buildup of what's known as abscisic acid, a characteristic in line with delayed germination, but the team's analysis revealed there were a number of other factors at play. Germination could be promoted by treating the mutants with hydrogen peroxide.

Qsd1 mutants exhibited partially reduced grain dormancy, while the qsd2 mutants could germinate in the dark, but not in the light. “We could successfully produce mutant barley that was resistant to pre-harvest sprouting, using the CRISPR/Cas9 technology," says Hisano.

"Also, our study has not only clarified the roles of qsd1 and qsd2 in grain germination or dormancy but has also established that qsd2 plays a more significant role.” The study was published in the Plant Biotechnology Journal.

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