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An international team of researchers has uncovered a genetic secret within barley seeds that could help protect the global food supply from the unpredictable effects of climate change. The study, published on Nov 6 in the journal Science, identifies a specific biological “timer” that controls when a seed decides to “wake up” and grow.
The research involved scientists from top institutes in China, Denmark, France, and the United Kingdom. Their focus was on a trait called seed dormancy, which is essentially a natural state of sleep that prevents seeds from sprouting even when environmental conditions appear favorable. While this helps plants survive in the wild, it creates what lead researcher Wang Yucheng calls a “double-edged sword” for modern agriculture.
Wang, a professor at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, explained that if seeds wake up too early, they might sprout while still attached to the plant before harvest. This issue, known as preharvest sprouting, ruins the quality of the grain and leads to more than $1 billion in losses annually. Conversely, if the seeds stay asleep too long, they will not grow in time for the next planting season, throwing the entire farming schedule off.
Using advanced DNA mapping technology that allows scientists to read long strands of genetic code, the team identified a gene called MKK3 as the master regulator of this process. Christoph Dockter, head of cereal breeding and trait development at the Carlsberg Research Laboratory in Denmark, said that the length of a seed’s slumber is determined by how many copies of this gene are present and how active they are. More copies of the gene act like a louder alarm clock, shortening the dormancy period and causing the seed to sprout faster.
By analyzing more than 1,000 barley samples from around the world, the team found that different regions have naturally selected diverse versions of this gene to survive local weather patterns. In the humid monsoon regions of East Asia, barley evolved with a “quieter” version of the gene to stay dormant longer, protecting the crop from sprouting early in the rain.
In contrast, ancient Vikings in Northern Europe selected barley with a shorter dormancy to ensure their crops grew quickly and evenly, which was vital for producing high-quality beer. These ancient farmers even used smoke-drying techniques to prevent their fast-growing seeds from sprouting too soon.
The study also highlighted a unique variety of barley called qingke, or naked barley, found on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. This variety has evolved what can be described as the world’s “highest-activity mode”. Through long-term selection and breeding, qingke has developed one of the strongest MKK3 activities globally, resulting in the weakest seed dormancy and the most vigorous germination capacity.
In response to the plateau’s extreme climate — particularly the frequent low-temperature stress during the barley harvest season, September to October, at high altitudes — a distinctive adaptive agronomic practice has emerged locally. Crops are harvested before the grains are fully mature, followed by postharvest treatments such as natural air-drying, roasting, and milling, which facilitate winter storage and consumption.
This extreme selection for reduced seed dormancy ensures that seeds harvested early can be rapidly activated after sowing, enabling them to cope with the harsh conditions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and ensuring that the majority of grains germinate successfully.
Wang said the discovery provides a blueprint for “designing” crops that can handle environmental stress.
He noted that as the global climate changes, some genetic traits that were lost or weakened during centuries of farming may become useful again.
Future research will focus on retrieving these ancient genetic traits and applying them to modern crops to ensure they can survive in a world where the environment is vastly different from the past, he said.
