Scientists at the Salk Institute are utilizing artificial intelligence to develop plant varieties with enhanced carbon-capture abilities by optimizing root systems, contributing significantly to climate change mitigation.
Main Points:
- Salk Institute’s Harnessing Plants Initiative employs the AI tool SLEAP to analyze and improve plant root systems, enhancing their carbon storage capacity.
- SLEAP, originally developed for animal movement analysis, is now adapted for plants, allowing for rapid, accurate assessments of root traits crucial for carbon sequestration.
- The technology has led to the creation of a comprehensive catalog of plant root system phenotypes, speeding up the development of crops that can effectively reduce atmospheric carbon.
Summary:
In response to the urgent need to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, researchers at the Salk Institute have pioneered the use of artificial intelligence to engineer plants that can store more carbon for longer periods. Their innovative use of the SLEAP software, which stands for serial lateral entry assisted phlebotomy, enables detailed analysis of plant root systems to identify traits that enhance carbon capture. This AI tool, designed by Salk Fellow Talmo Pereira and initially used to track animal movements, has been successfully repurposed to study plant roots, dramatically improving the speed and accuracy of data analysis.
The application of this technology not only speeds up research but also allows scientists to explore the genetic basis of advantageous root traits. By understanding how different root characteristics are genetically linked, researchers can design plants that are more efficient at carbon sequestration. The work of the Salk team is a prime example of interdisciplinary collaboration, combining botany, genetics, and artificial intelligence to tackle one of the most pressing issues of our time—climate change.
Source: Artificial intelligence helps scientists engineer plants to fight climate change
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