A Dallas-based team of Texas A&M University scientists worked with researchers across four continents to learn how pineapples thrive on so little water. The findings, published this month, could help rice, wheat and other major crops grow with up to 80 percent less water.
“The global implications could be enormous,” said Qingyi Yu, a professor of plant genomics and molecular biology at Texas A&M’s AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Dallas. World food production needs to double by 2050 to meet ever-growing demand, she said.
The project took a small scientific army: 70 researchers at 25 organizations, including universities in the U.S., China, Australia, France, the United Kingdom and Canada. They brought expertise in plant genomics and biochemistry. Yu, who earned her doctorate at the University of Hawaii, brought experience with tropical fruits and plants including papaya, rubber trees and sugar cane.
Scientists mapped the pineapple’s genome — its complete DNA blueprint, which contains all the genetic information to produce the tropical delight and help it grow.
Yu’s team at Texas A&M focused on how the pineapple uses sunlight to make food.
The scientists found that pineapples, spiky natives of South America, share ancestry with rice, wheat, corn and other water-indulging crops. The hope is that pineapples can teach those plants a thing or two about water conservation, especially in hotter and drier climates.
