(Yicai) June 5 -- A Chinese scientific research team has identified a high-protein gene in wild corn that was lost during the plant's domestication, providing a scientific basis for developing high-protein corn varieties that can reshape China's feed industry.

Wu Yongrui and Wang Haihai from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences and partners have found and cloned the major high-protein gene THP3-T from the wild corn variety Teosinte, according to a study published in scientific journal Nature on June 3. The enzyme encoded by this gene plays a crucial role as a key engine in amino acid synthesis in corn.

Corn is the world's most widely produced grain crop, but high-protein genes have been lost over thousands of years of domestication because human breeding efforts were primarily focused on increasing yield. Modern cultivated corn kernels contain only about 8 percent protein, while wild corn can reach up to 30 percent.

China produces 300 million tons of corn a year, which is not enough to meet the feed demand of livestock and poultry farming due to the low protein content. The gap is filled by imported bean pulp, but the reliance on imports could be resolved by cultivating high-protein corn varieties.

Wu's team has been dedicated to achieving this goal through genetic breeding technology, discovering the first high-protein gene THP9-T from wild corn in 2022. The newly discovered THP3-T can work synergistically with THP9-T to further enhance protein levels.

Wu's team introduced the two genes into mainstream Chinese corn hybrid varieties after years of field tests, increasing the kernel protein content to between 12 percent and 13 percent from 8.5 percent, as well as the protein content in the entire corn plant to over 9 percent from 7 percent, while maintaining stable yields.

If the protein in corn produced by China a year jumps by 4 percentage points, the total increase would be equivalent to 30 million tons of imported soybeans, or around 30 percent of the country's imports a year, the team pointed out.

The team will work with breeding companies to develop high-protein corn varieties and continue seeking new high-protein genes, aiming to raise the kernel protein content of hybrid corn to 15 percent, it stressed.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev