The 2018 National Science and Technology Awards Conference was held this morning at the Great Hall of the People. The “Cucumber Genome and Important Agronomic Traits Research” project, led by Professor Huang Sanwen from the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, won the second prize of the Natural Science Award.

The Institute of Vegetables and Flowers of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, in conjunction with a number of units, used cucumber as the research object. By deciphering the cucumber gene code as a breakthrough, they successfully cultivated a new cucumber variety without bitterness. It was confirmed that the cucumber was native to India and was a traditional herbal medicine. Because of the change in the bitterness gene, it became a popular vegetable. This project found nine genes that control the synthesis of cucumber bitter substances, and found that two 'switch' genes control the synthesis of bitter substances in leaves and fruits, respectively. Turn the fruits 'switch' on, so that the cucumber does not bitter; the leaves 'switch' opens, leaving the leaves bitter to resist insects.

It is also known that, based on the findings, the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences has successfully solved the production problem of the loss of commodity value of the cucumber varieties in South China, and promoted a total of about 1 million mu, created an economic value about 8 billion yuan.

Source: people.cn

Time: 2019.01.08