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A gene variant in maize that increases protein content

Crops such as maize need nitrogen to create protein, and the yield of many modern crops relies on nitrogen fertilizers. A previously unknown gene variant found in a non-domesticated maize variety enables plants to use nitrogen more efficiently and produce more protein than their modern counterparts.

This is a summary of: Huang, Y. et al. THP9 enhances seed protein content and nitrogen-use efficiency in maize. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05441-2 (2022).

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03336-w

‘Expert opinion’ is published under a CC BY 4.0 licence.

References

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