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New Findings Indicate Gene-Edited Rice Might Survive in Martian Soil:
As outlined in the team's abstract, Rice Can Grow and Survive in Martian Regolith with Challenges That Could be Overcome Through Control of Stress-Related Genes, one of the biggest challenges to growing food on Mars is the presence of perchlorate salts, which have been detected in the planet's soil and are generally considered to be toxic for plants.
The team was able to simulate Martian soil using basaltic rich soil mined from the Mojave Desert, called the Mojave Mars Simulant, or MMS, which was developed by scientists from NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The teams then grew three varieties of rice, including one wild-type and two gene-edited lines with genetic mutations that better enable them to respond to stress, such as drought, sugar starvation or salinity. These varieties were grown in the MMS, as well as a regular potted mix and a hybrid of the two. While plants were able to grow in the Martian simulant, they were not as developed as those grown in the potting soil and hybrid mix. Replacing just a quarter of the Martian simulant with potting soil resulted in improved development.
The team also experimented with the amount of perchlorate in the soil, finding that 3 grams per kilogram was the threshold beyond which nothing would grow, while mutant strains could still root in 1 gram per kilogram.
Their findings suggest that there might be a way forward for genetically modified rice to find purchase in Martian soil.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 17, @06:07PM (3 children)
Martian sunlight profiles (weaker, different absorption spectra) from the:
Martian atmosphere - if you're not outside that creates all kinds of additional infrastructure requirements to the point that you might as well go full hydroponic anyway.
Oh, and while we're at it: water? This is rice we're talking about after all, where will the water be coming from (and going to)?
Nifty that they can go GMO to handle some perchlorates, did anybody think we're growing non-GMO crops on Mars within the next 50,000 years, anyway?
But, at this stage, it feels like we're in a full artificial growing environment on Mars anyway, like: https://lp.amplifiedaginc.com/catch-all/ [amplifiedaginc.com] - so who cares about dirt?
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 17, @08:54PM (2 children)
where will the water be coming from
They'll probably mine it. There seems to be plenty of evidence it exists in solid form, perhaps not too far beneath the surface. People living on Mars will have to be moles for most of the time anyway because of the radiation.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 17, @09:10PM (1 child)
Well, I guess we're looking at flooded rice paddies in giant lava tubes then (with solar panels up top and LED emitters on the farm), because if you let that water out on the surface it's going bye bye in a hurry.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 17, @09:58PM
Although the water will boil on the surface (at least, I suppose, during the daylight), all is not lost because you do need boiling water to cook rice.