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Protein engineering fixes a major crop trade-off
- NEWS AND VIEWS
- 25 February 2026
Protein engineering fixes a major crop trade-off
Rational design of a regulatory protein decouples the ability to tolerate cold from the means to acquire phosphorus, effectively enhancing crop yield under cold stress.
Jie Liu http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1129-95840 &
Jianbing Yan http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8650-78111
Jie Liu
Jie Liu is at Yazhouwan National Laboratory, Sanya 572024, China.
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Jianbing Yan
Jianbing Yan is at the National Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China, and also at Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Wuhan 430070, China.
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To ensure stable yields, crops must adapt to many concurrent fluctuating stresses, such as low temperatures and limited availability of the nutrient phosphorus, which is present in the soil as inorganic phosphate (Pi). Both low temperature and limited Pi cause notable yield loss, a challenge that is aggravated by the fact that cold stress directly inhibits Pi uptake1.
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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-00293-6
The authors used DeepSeek to help prepare this News & Views article.
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