2023-04-28 10:35:00
In the movie “The Martian” (2015), based on the novel by Andy Weir, the main character, Mark Watney, played by Matt Damon, is an astronaut and botanist who gets stuck on Mars. In order to survive, he uses his knowledge of botany and grows potatoes. inside the Martian habitat using the planet’s soilhuman excreta as fertilizer and water produced from a chemical reaction.
Obsessed with the red planet
Although the film is science fiction, it raises the interesting question of whether plant life can be cultivated in extraterrestrial conditions. The possibility of growing food on other planets, such as Mars, It is a fundamental research topic.since it could be essential for future long-term manned missions and the colonization of space.
A new gene-edited rice opens the door to this possibility, according to new research presented at the 54th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference by a team of interdisciplinary researchers from the University of Arkansas.
STRESS RESPONSE GENES
One of the main obstacles to growing food on Mars is the existence of perchlorate salts in its soil, which have been identified in the Martian terrain and are generally considered harmful to plants.
To overcome this pitfall, the researchers bred three types of rice, including a wild variety and two genetically modified lines with genetic alterations that enable them to deal more effectively with stressful situationssuch as drought, sugar shortage or salinity.
These varieties were planted in both an MMS (Mojave Mars Simulant, a Martian soil simulation using basalt-rich soil extracted from the Mojave Desert), a conventional potting mix, and a hybrid compound of both.
They discover a glacier that suggests the recent presence of water on Mars
Although the plants were able to grow in the MMS, their development was not as advanced as those grown in the potting soil and hybrid mix. Replacing only a quarter of the MMS with potting soil resulted in more optimal development.
The group of researchers also explored different concentrations of perchlorate in the soil, discovering that 3 grams per kilogram was the limit beyond which no plant could growwhile mutant varieties could still take root with 1 gram per kilogram.
These results suggest that there might be a viable possibility for genetically modified rice to adapt to Martian soil.
NEXT STEPS
The next steps in the research will include experimenting with a new Martian Soil Simulant called Mars Global Simulant, as well as other rice varieties that have greater tolerance to higher concentrations of salt.
A crucial aspect of the study will be to determine the extent to which perchlorate leaches into plants from the soil. Later, the scientists would like to introduce the rice into an enclosed habitat chamber and place it in a simulated chamber on Mars that replicates the planet’s temperature and atmosphere.
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