2000 rops can be improved in a surprising number of ways, and tweaking genes to improve yield is just one. Twenty to fifty percent of a rapeseed crop, harvested and crushed to yield canola oil, can be lost because the pods open and release the seeds before the farmer can harvest them. The ideal situation for the farmer would be to delay pod shattering until the crop has been harvested. The recent discovery of weakened versions of SHP1 and SHP2 that work less efficiently may be just the thing. A closed seedpod.
Arrow shows where pod splits.
A seedpod after splitting. The seedpod is just like a small pea pod that is glued together at the seam with a cell-secreted chemical called pectin, says Martin Yanofsky, of the University of California, San Diego. When the seedpod or fruit matures, two critical changes happen. Some cells secrete pectinases that degrade the glue, while other cells near the seam shrink, becoming dry, woody and taut, creating a coiled spring type mechanism that flings the seeds out of the pod. When the glue is gone, the pod bursts open, spraying the seeds around the plant.