Scientists at the John Innes Centre together with colleagues at the
University of Jordan have developed barley plants which have four times the
drought tolerance of their parent stock. Dr. Wendy Harwood worked on the
malting barley Golden Promise, which is a heritage variety generally grown
in Scotland for the brewing industry.

Using genetic modification, Dr. Harwood and colleagues worked on a gene
responsible for opening and closing tiny pores on the surface of the barley
leaves. They put the naturally-present gene which controls this process into
overdrive, and they were able to develop barley plants with stomata which
closed more readily when water was scarce, retaining the plant's water
content and making them more resilient in drought conditions. Unusually,
there was no 'trade-off' associated with this change as the plants grew as
well in water-abundant soils as their non-modified counterparts. Dr. Harwood
said, "This shows that making a single stress-responsive gene more active
can have quite a big effect, which is encouraging."

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