Scientists look to genetics to save crops from climate change

ProCon debate: Should genetically modified organisms (GMOs) be grown?

ProCon issue in the news: As increasing temperatures shrink crop yields, scientists are looking to genetics to create genetically modified crops that are more heat tolerant than conventional crops.

Writing for The New York Times, journalist Rebecca Dzombak explains:

Modifying crops, either through traditional crossbreeding, artificially sped-up mutation or direct genetic editing, offers control over how plants respond to heat.…

A plant’s genome [entire set of genetic material] can also be altered to change its leaf architecture, spacing leaves out and setting them at just the right angle to ensure a balance of sun and shade that can help maintain temperature and productivity. Editing a leaf’s reflectivity and the amount of chlorophyll, or green pigment, that it contains can help, too.

Carl Bernacchi, who researches crops at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and his colleagues are investigating whether photosynthesis can be altered by editing rubisco (ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase)—the enzyme that enables the incorporation of carbon from the simple molecule carbon dioxide into the complex molecule glucose—and rubisco activase, the protein that aids the enzyme. As Dzombak explains,

In plants that grow in warm climates, rubisco activase seems to work better at helping rubisco function. Transferring that molecule from hot-climate plants to cool-climate plants can help cool-climate plants adapt to heat. Simply boosting its activity could help, too.

Additionally, Australian researchers are looking into how plants sense temperature and how to edit the sensors involved. However, Sam Yeaman, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Calgary who researches wild plants to discover how they thrive in places with extreme heat, such as in California’s Death Valley, points out, “If we limit ourselves to only looking at crops, we’re going to have a tiny slice of the picture.”

Bernacchi agrees, saying that researchers may “need to be creative”: “We may get to a point where existing crops don’t have the genetic diversity we need to adapt crops to the growth conditions that we’re going to see in the near future.” In other words, scientists may need to take elements of wild or nonedible plants, unrelated to food crops, to create new, hybrid crops.

Discussion questions

1. Should genetically modified organisms (GMOs) be grown? Why or why not?
2. Should scientists genetically alter plants to protect the plants from climate change? Explain your answer.
3. What other methods could protect crops from climate change?

Sources

• Carl J. Bernacchi et al., “Safeguarding Crop Photosynthesis in a Rapidly Warming World” (June 12, 2025), science.org
• Rebecca Dzombak, “Soaring Temperatures Threaten Crops, So Scientists Are Looking to Alter the Plants” (June 12, 2025), nytimes.com
• Avilash Singh Yadav et al., “Dispersed Components Drive Temperature Sensing and Response in Plants” (June 12, 2025), science.org
• Sam Yeaman, “Can Wild Plant Adaptations Help Crops Tolerate Heat?” (June 12, 2025), science.org