Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) is a pathogenic virus of tomato that has emerged in recent years and has become a serious problem worldwide. A new control method has been sought as the existing resistance genes were not effective against ToBRFV. National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) and Takii & Co., Ltd. have demonstrated by genome editing technology that tomatoes with strong resistance to ToBRFV can be produced by disabling the genes of tomato that the virus utilizes for their multiplication. This research result is expected to contribute to the suppression of ToBRFV if the development and popularization of ToBRFV resistant tomato cultivars progresses. Read more
Snow mold is a serious disease that withers wheat and grasses. National Agricultural Food Research Organization(NARO), in collaboration with Hokkaido University and The Hachinohe Institute of Technology, has first identified the snow mold fungi that infect the model plant Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and developed an experimental system to evaluate the resistance of plants to snow mold fungi using Arabidopsis. It is expected that this experimental system will further elucidate molecular mechanisms of plants resistance to snow mold infection, which has not been known so far. Based on this knowledge, the development of varieties of wheat, barley, grasses, etc. with strong snow mold resistance as well as snow mold control technology is expected to progress. Read more
The National Agricultural Food Research Organization (NARO) has created and published the data indicating the type of gene and where & to what extent they work (comprehensive gene expression) in silkworm larvae during the critical period for silk protein production. It is expected that this research outcome will further highlight the high protein synthesis capacity of silkworms and pave the way for using silkworms for the production of useful proteins. Read more
The National Agricultural Food Research Organization (NARO) scientists have collected phenomes and transcriptomes of 61 rice accessions with highly diverse below-ground traits grown in an upland field. NARO team discovered genes negatively associated with root growth under the mild drought condition. The study could lead to development of drought-resistant rice cultivars and provides insights on the genomic and transcriptomic basis of phenotypic variation under upland field conditions. Read more
The National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), in collaboration with the Riken research institute, etc. have identified key substances that are accumulated during the desiccation and rehydration (re-immersion in water) of Polypedilum vanderplanki, an anhydrobiotic insect, and have elucidated their functions. By utilizing the substances identified from this research, it is expected to pave the way for the development of a new technology for storing cells at room temperature. Read more
