California farmers have had a rough few years, facing an unrelenting drought. Rather than redirecting potable drinking water, or water needed by native aquatic species, onto farm fields, the best long-term solution may be to breed new varieties of crops that thrive in arid soil.
But developing new plant varieties takes time and patience, if you're doing things the old fashioned way. Hybridize two species, and it can take months, or even years, to see if the new cultivar is viable.
Toyota Motor Corporation has a solution.
Our new DNA Analysis Technology is just one of the ways that we at #Toyota are committed to a sustainable futurehttps://t.co/47XLtP9vlA pic.twitter.com/kDa7zmmFTK
— Toyota Motor Corp. (@ToyotaMotorCorp) September 23, 2016
Genotyping by Random Amplicon Sequencing (GRAS), innovated by Toyota Motor Corporation, uses a new sample-preparation technology and gene sequencer capable of analyzing DNA in a tenth of the time current methods take. This means useful genetic traits can be identified sooner, speeding the pace of selective breeding.
Toyota hopes to use GRAS to grow more sugar cane and biofuel crops on fewer acres of land. It could also be used to breed disease-resistant plants, or any number of useful characteristics.
Visit Concord Toyota to learn more about the many ways Toyota is working towards a sustainable future.
