As reported by Ukrinform, this was reported on the IAEA website.

“I hope this experiment leads to a breakthrough: results that we will freely share with new crops that will help scientists and farmers adapt to climate change and improve food security,” said IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi.

The ISS sent seeds from Arabidopsis, a plant commonly used in genetic experiments because of its unique properties, and sorghum, a nutrient-dense grain used for human food, animal feed, and ethanol production. Seeds from the IAEA and FAO laboratories will be exposed inside and outside the space station for about three months in the conditions prevailing in space – microgravity, cosmic radiation and extremely low temperatures.

Once the seed is returned to Earth, scientists at the FAO/IAEA Joint Center for Nuclear Techniques will grow it and examine it for beneficial traits to better understand space-induced mutations in plant seeds and identify new varieties that can adapt to relevant changing Earth conditions. with climate change.

Within the scope of the experiment, genomic and biological analyzes of seeds exposed to comic mutagenesis for the first time will be performed. On the International Space Station, the seeds will be in unique conditions that cannot be reproduced in a laboratory on Earth. One of the aims of the experiment was to compare such seeds with those exposed to radiation under laboratory conditions to study DNA and growth changes.

As Ukrinform reported, at the climate summit in Egypt on Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the world is now on the path to “climate hell” against the background of rising greenhouse gas emissions.