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Dr Vijay Gahlaut of the Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, is working on developing a wheat strain that can grow even in high temperatures. He is trying out DNA methylation technique — adding a methyl group (which is a methane molecule in which a hydrogen atom is replaced with another compound) to the DNA — to develop a wheat variety that is heat-tolerant.
His research falls under a science called ‘epigenesis’, which means altering gene activity without changing the DNA sequence, an alteration that can be passed on to daughter cells. This research is significant in the context of global warming — farmers may not lose productivity if temperatures rise.
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