英国研究人员日前在英国Nature杂志发表报告说，他们开发出一种新方法能在实验室的可控环境中将小麦产量提升20％。由于小麦属于主要粮食作物，这种方法未来或许有助提高全球粮食安全保障能力。

英国洛桑研究所、牛津大学等机构的研究人员人工合成了“海藻糖-6-磷酸”的前体。海藻糖-6-磷酸（简称为T6P）在植物的生长和发育过程中具有重要的调控作用。研究人员发现，麦粒在成长中获得越多的T6P，最终的产量就越高。

在实验室中，研究人员等小麦开花后，每隔5天将含有T6P前体的溶液喷洒在小麦作物上一次。小麦成熟后，研究人员对麦粒称重并分析了其中的淀粉和蛋白质含量，发现麦粒体积和小麦产量都提高了20％。

研究还发现，T6P能提升小麦的抗旱能力。研究人员在小麦长出根茎后的10天内不为其浇水，只是在第9天为其喷洒含有T6P前体的溶液，等10天的干旱期过后再正常浇水，最终研究人员还能收获到小麦。

研究人员表示，实验证明人工合成的T6P前体能促进小麦内T6P含量激增，最终提升小麦的产量和抗旱能力。由于T6P对多数植物和作物都能发挥类似的作用，因此这项新方法有潜力运用在多种作物上。

参与研究的洛桑研究所的马修·保罗说，下一步研究人员需要在不同环境的田间使用这一方法，以观察环境因素的变化会对这种方法的效果产生什么影响。（来源：新华社 张家伟）

Chemical intervention in plant sugar signalling increases yield and resilience

Abstract  The pressing global issue of food insecurity due to population growth, diminishing land and variable climate can only be addressed in agriculture by improving both maximum crop yield potential and resilience1, 2. Genetic modification is one potential solution, but has yet to achieve worldwide acceptance, particularly for crops such as wheat3. Trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P), a central sugar signal in plants, regulates sucrose use and allocation, underpinning crop growth and development4, 5. Here we show that application of a chemical intervention strategy directly modulates T6P levels in planta. Plant-permeable analogues of T6P were designed and constructed based on a ‘signalling-precursor’ concept for permeability, ready uptake and sunlight-triggered release of T6P in planta. We show that chemical intervention in a potent sugar signal increases grain yield, whereas application to vegetative tissue improves recovery and resurrection from drought. This technology offers a means to combine increases in yield with crop stress resilience. Given the generality of the T6P pathway in plants and other small-molecule signals in biology, these studies suggest that suitable synthetic exogenous small-molecule signal precursors can be used to directly enhance plant performance and perhaps other organism function.

原文链接：http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v540/n7634/full/nature20591.html#affil-auth