Researchers solve crucial cold-induced sweetening problem in potato production

The potato industry benefits from new tuber research published in The Plant Cell

2024-03-11

(Press-News.org) Researchers have discovered a game changer for the potato industry.

According to a new study published in a leading international society journal published by the American Society of Plant Biologists, a small genetic element is the cause of a major production problem in potatoes.

“Our manuscript reveals the mystery of “cold-induced sweetening” (CIS), the most troublesome and expensive problem for the potato processing industry,” explained Jiming Jiang, Corresponding Author of “Molecular dissection of an intronic enhancer governing cold-induced expression of the vacuolar invertase gene in potato” published February 20 in The Plant Cell. “Interestingly, it is controlled by a 200-bp sequence hidden in an intron of the potato vacuolar invertase gene.”

Potatoes, one of the most widely consumed and produced food crops worldwide, are typically stored for many months after the harvesting season. Farmers use cold temperatures to mitigate diseases, sprouting and softening.

However, another physiological process occurs when potatoes are exposed to cold. Cold temperatures encourage tubers to turn starch into sugar. When those potatoes are removed from storage and fried, accumulated sugars cause them to produce acrylamide and turn an undesirable dark brown-black color.

In the study, Jiang and co-authors identified several DNA motifs in the 200-bp sequence that bind transcription factors involved in the plant cold stress response. The researchers found mutating these small, specific sequences significantly decreased the cold-stress response in the potatoes.

This discovery solves a long-standing agricultural problem and sets the groundwork for easily improving it with gene editing.

“I was hired as a potato breeder by the Department of Horticulture, University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1995,” added Jiang. ”Improving the CIS trait, based on traditional breeding as well as biotech approach, was one of the top goals for the breeding program.”

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Developed by VHIO, a novel AI-based and non-invasive diagnostic tool enables accurate brain tumor diagnosis, outperforming current classification methods

2024-03-11

Developed by VHIO, a novel AI-based and non-invasive diagnostic tool enables accurate brain tumor diagnosis, outperforming current classification methods Developed by VHIO’s Radiomics Group in close collaboration with researchers of the Neuroradiology Unit at the Bellvitge University Hospital (HUB), DISCERN is a deep learning tool that leverages information of magnetic resonance imaging and facilitates brain tumor classification to aid clinical decision making. Currently, a definitive diagnosis often requires neurosurgical interventions that compromise the quality of life of patients. Trained to differentiate between the three most ...

Natural history specimens have never been so accessible

2024-03-11

With the help of 16 grants from the National Science Foundation, researchers have painstakingly taken computed topography (CT) scans of more than 13,000 individual specimens to create 3D images of more than half of all the world's animal groups, including mammals, fishes, amphibians and reptiles. The research team, made of members from The University of Texas at Arlington and 25 other institutions, are now a quarter of the way through inputting nearly 30,000 media files to the open-source repository MorphoSource. This will allow researchers ...

NRL research physicists explore fiber optic computing using distributed feedback

2024-03-11

WASHINGTON – U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) researchers deliver novel contribution in fiber optics computing, Fiber Optic Computing Using Distributed Feedback paper recently published in Communications Physics journal, brings the Navy one step closer to faster, more efficient computing technologies. Optical computing uses the properties of light, such as its speed and ability to carry large amounts of data, to process information more efficiently than traditional electronic computers. In collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories and the University of Central Florida, NRL is aiming ...

Canals used to drain peatlands are underappreciated hotspots for carbon emissions

2024-03-11

A new study led by UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography postdoctoral scholar Jennifer Bowen finds that canals used to drain soggy peatlands in Southeast Asia are likely hotspots for greenhouse gas emissions. The results, published March 8 in Nature Geoscience and supported by the Scripps Institutional Postdoctoral Program and Stanford University’s Precourt Institute for Energy, identify a previously unaccounted for source of emissions from these threatened, carbon-rich landscapes. Findings from the study suggest that the degradation of tropical peatlands in Southeast Asia has released even more planet-warming ...

Nutritional value of meat should be considered when comparing carbon footprints

2024-03-11

The nutritional value of meat must be considered when comparing carbon footprints – that is the key message from a recent study undertaken by Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales (HCC), Bangor University, Queen’s University, and the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI). The scientific paper, published in the journal Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems using data from the Welsh Lamb Meat Quality project, focuses on different lamb production systems, specifically the ‘finishing’ period – at the end of which lambs have reached the required weight, meat and fat cover for ...

Microscopy plus deep learning to advance prostate cancer diagnosis

2024-03-11

Prostate cancer stands as a prevalent threat to men's health, ranking second in cancer-related deaths in the United States. Each year, approximately 250,000 men in the U.S. receive a prostate cancer diagnosis. While most cases have low morbidity and mortality rates, a subset of cases demands aggressive treatment. Urologists assess the need for such treatment primarily through the Gleason score, which evaluates prostate gland appearance on histology slides. However, there's considerable variability in interpretation, leading to both undertreatment and overtreatment. The current method, based on histology ...

Cancer researchers awarded $3.2 million grant to find better ways to treat advanced melanoma

2024-03-11

A team of investigators from the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute was awarded a $3.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to identify new ways to prevent and overcome treatment resistance to targeted therapy in patients with all sub-types of cutaneous melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer. Virtually all cutaneous melanomas display genetic alterations that ...

The liver immune system eats up ‘bad cholesterol’

2024-03-11

A new study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden reveals that immune cells in the liver react to high cholesterol levels and eat up excess cholesterol that can otherwise cause damage to arteries. The findings, published in Nature Cardiovascular Research, suggest that the response to the onset of atherosclerosis begins in the liver. Cholesterol is a type of fat that is essential for many functions in the body, such as making hormones and cell membranes. However, too much cholesterol in the blood can be harmful, as it can stick to the walls of the arteries ...

New study finds female entrepreneurs do better with guidance from female mentors

2024-03-11

INFORMS Journal Marketing Science Study Key Takeaways: Female entrepreneurs increase their chances of success and improved performance with female mentors. One of the key benefits to female entrepreneurs is a mentoring style characterized as “positive engagement.” BALTIMORE, MD, March 11, 2024 – In business and in life, the power of mentorship has long been understood, but how important is it that your mentor look like you? This question was at the center of a new study, which specifically found that mentor gender has a powerful impact on ...

Using wrist-worn activity trackers to help patients reduce long COVID symptoms

2024-03-11

LA JOLLA, CA—Scientists at the Scripps Research Digital Trials Center have partnered with the health technology company CareEvolution to launch a remote study that will investigate whether wrist-worn devices, such as activity trackers and smartwatches, can help people with long COVID manage and reduce the severity of their symptoms. “New treatments and interventions are urgently needed,” says the study principal investigator Julia Moore Vogel, PhD. “We’re excited to launch the Long COVID Wearable Study and ...

Researchers solve crucial cold-induced sweetening problem in potato production

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: