PTI

New Delhi, May 7: Scientists at Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) have tweaked a gene to alter the sex life of a plant, a move that could lead sustained production of high yield crops.

Lead researcher Imran Siddiqi has found a gene 'Dyad' which is responsible for transferring the combined traits of parent plants to next generation in the Arabidopsis plant, a member of the Mustard family.

"We have found that this particular gene exists in all plants whose genome has been sequenced," said Siddiqi, who will now take forward the research with his Australian collaborators under an agreement signed here today.

If their findings are taken to the logical end, a farmer can do without buying hybrid seeds to grow the high-yielding crop varieties.

However, this will require another crucial step of finding ways to develop plant embryo without fertilisation of egg cell before developing the actual applications.

The Dyad gene induces Apomixis, a process of formation of asexual seeds avoiding meiosis a step in reproductive cell division and fertilisation leading to seeds that are genetically identical to the maternal plant, Siddiqi said.

Given the current food crisis staring in the face of the world, the findings are significant as they could eventually help trigger a second green revolution, he said.

"In the midst of a food crisis, this is a very timely initiative," Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said after Council of Scientific and Industrial Research signed an agreement with Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organisation for collaboration in joint research.