Mars is a barren, cold desert where no plant has ever sprouted from the planet's soil in its 4.5 billion-year history.
But science has taken this challenge head-on, as space agencies have been aiming to land the first humans on Mars in the coming decades. One barrier is that Martian soil contains perchlorate, a chemical that can be toxic to Earth plants.
Researchers from the University of Arkansas discovered that at least one strain of wild rice and two gene-edited cultivars may have the potential to grow in the harsh Martian soil. After extensive research, they identified a genetic mutation that modified for resilience against environmental stressors like drought and allowed the rice to grow and survive in Mars-like soils.
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