张启发：为人类和地球提供健康的食物 | Modern Agriculture主编访谈

来源 | Modern Agriculture

Modern Agriculture主编访谈

张启发 Qifa Zhang

访谈内容

问题1. 作为期刊主编，请您阐述对现代农业的个人见解

答：我对现代农业的看法与社会对粮食生产的需求动态相关。我理解的粮食安全是一个不断演变的概念，有两个主要方面：第一个方面是总需求：到2050年，世界人口预计将达到100亿，我们需要足够的粮食来支持人口；人们也想过健康的生活，这需要健康的食物。第二个维度是粮食生产的资源和环境的可持续性。现代农业应同时解决这两个方面的问题。因此，我们的使命是为人类和地球提供健康的食物。

问题2. 请简要介绍一下您课题组的重点研究领域

答：我的实验室一直致力于水稻功能基因组学和基因组育种技术，以开发绿色超级稻（GSR，我们提出的一种新型水稻品种，通过使用更少的农药、化肥和水来实现高产和优质，以发展资源节约型和环境友好型农业）。过去三十年的研究包括对农业重要性状基因的遗传和功能表征；通过了解产量杂种优势、雄性不育和亚种间杂种不育的分子机制，利用杂种优势改良杂交水稻的生物学基础；以及GSR育种和应用。近年来，我们一直在主导开发营养全谷物黑米，以提供替代主食，更好地满足粮食安全、可持续农业以及人类营养和健康的需求。

问题3. 请列出您研究领域或现代农业中的3-5个重要问题

答：作物研究促进人类营养和健康；整合农业技术促进绿色生产；作物生产，特别是田间管理中的人工智能技术。

问题4. 请分享一些在您研究生涯中有趣的事、人或对您有激励作用的书

答：一篇论文改变了我的研究方向。

2008年，Butelli等人在《自然-生物技术》杂志上发表了一篇论文，报道了一种转基因紫番茄，其花青素含量大大提高。这项研究表明，与易感癌Trp53-/-小鼠的平均寿命相比，食用添加了这种番茄的食物的Trp53-/-小鼠的寿命延长了28%。该论文提出，花青素的健康益处主要是由其作为抗氧化剂的直接效果，以及其激活内源性抗氧化防御系统和信号通路的间接效果来实现的。作为一名水稻研究人员，我立即考虑了这篇论文对水稻在人类营养中的作用的影响，并将我的研究课题从高产水稻转向提高稻米的营养价值。

米粒有许多不同的颜色，但在中国传说中，黑米尤其被认为是健康长寿的灵丹妙药。事实上，许多研究表明，黑米的水溶性提取物可以预防多种非传染性疾病，包括癌症、心血管疾病、糖尿病和代谢综合征。红米和黑米在籽粒的果皮和种皮中合成原花青素和花青素。因此，食用全谷物大米将是获得此类健康益处的必要条件，这也将为我们的饮食提供额外的营养，包括蛋白质、不饱和油、矿物质、维生素、膳食纤维、类黄酮和多糖等。此外，与精米相比，食用全谷物将使可食部分增加30%以上，从而大大减轻需求压力，有助于粮食安全。但是，当时可用的黑米品种特别不好吃，而且很难作为全谷物烹饪，这对他们的消费构成了主要障碍。

从那时起，我们一直致力于开发具有更好适口性的黑米。我们的研究小组发现了具有良好烹饪品质和适口性的黑米地方品种，并开发了基因组育种技术，以提高产量和抗病虫害能力。这些改良的水稻品种现在已经在多个地点和年份进行了田间试验，结果很有希望。我们提出了“蒸煮式全粒黑米”的概念，提倡制作黑米主食，这可能在不久的将来成为现实。

问题5. 请您为自己或其他其他编辑编委提出一个问题

答：我们如何利用Modern Agriculture平台促进农业现代化？

Q1. As the Editor-in-Chief/Editorial Board Member, would you please briefly introduce your personal vision for Modern Agriculture?

My vision of modern agriculture is dynamically related to societal need for food production. My understanding of food security is an evolving concept with two major dimensions: the 1st dimension is the total demand: world population is projected to be 10 billion by 2050, we need adequate foods to support the population; people also want to live healthy life which needs healthy foods. The 2nd dimension is the resource- and environment-sustainability for food production. Modern agriculture should simultaneously address issues in these two dimensions. So our mission is to provide foods that are healthy for both mankind and the planet.

Q2. Would you please briefly introduce the focus area of your research group?

My lab has been working on rice functional genomics and genomic breeding technologies for developing Green Super Rice (GSR, a new class of rice varieties we proposed for the development of resource saving and environment-friendly agriculture by using less pesticides, fertilizers and water to achieve high yield and superior quality). The research activities in the past three decades include genetic and functional characterization of genes for agronomically important traits; biological basis for the utilization of heterosis for hybrid rice improvement by understanding the molecular mechanisms of yield heterosis, male sterility, and inter-subspecific hybrid sterility; and GSR breeding and application. In recent years, we have been leading the effort of developing nutritious whole grain black rice to provide alternative staple food to better meet the demands of food security, sustainable agriculture and human nutrition and health.

Q3. Would you please list 3 - 5 important questions within your research field or in modern agriculture?

Crop research for human nutrition and health; integration of agricultural technologies for green production; AI technologies in crop production, especially field management .

Q4. Would you please share some interesting stories during your research career or someone or a book inspires you?

One paper changed my research course.

In 2008, Butelli et al. published a paper in Nature Biotechnology reporting a transgenic purple tomato with greatly enhanced levels of anthocyanins. This study showed that the lifespan of cancer-susceptible Trp53-/- mice fed a diet supplemented with such tomatoes was extended by 28% relative to the average lifespan for this mouse strain. The paper proposed that the health benefits of anthocyanins are a direct effect of their function as antioxidants, and an indirect effect of their ability to activate endogenous antioxidant defence systems and signalling pathways. As a rice researcher, I immediately considered the implications of this paper in relation to the role of rice in human nutrition and switched my research course from generating high-yield rice to improving the nutritional value of rice grains.

Rice grains exist in many different colours, but black rice, in particular, is considered in Chinese legend to be a panacea for health and longevity. Indeed, numerous studies have shown that water-soluble extracts of black rice are protective against a wide range of non-communicable diseases including cancers, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome. Red rice and black rice synthesize proanthocyanins and anthocyanins in the pericarp and seed coat of the grain. Thus, consumption of whole-grain rice will be necessary to obtain such health benefits, which would also provide additional nutrients from the germ and aleurone of the rice grain to our diet, including protein, unsaturated oil, minerals, vitamins, dietary fibre, flavonoids and polysaccharides, among others. Moreover, eating the whole grain would amount to a >30% increase in the edible portion relative to polished rice, thereby enormously reducing the pressure on demand and contributing to food security. But, at that time, the available varieties of black rice were particularly unpalatable and difficult to cook as whole grains, presenting a major obstacle to their consumption.

Since then, we have been working on the development of black rice with improved palatability. Our research group has found landrace varieties of black rice with good cooking quality and palatability, and developed genomic breeding technologies to improve the yield and resistance to disease and insects. These improved rice lines have now undergone field trials in multiple locations and years with promising results. We propose the notion of “Cooking and steaming type of whole grain black rice” and advocate to make black rice staple food. This may become a reality in the not too distant future.

Q5. Would you like to ask a question to yourself or other EBMs?

How can we use theModern Agricultureplatform to promote modernization of agriculture?

嘉宾介绍

张启发，华中农业大学生命科学技术学院教授。中国科学院院士。长期从事水稻功能基因组与遗传改良和绿色农业研究。水稻功能基因组计划的主要发起者和组织者之一，构建了大规模水稻功能基因组研究的技术和资源平台，鉴定分离了一批具有重要应用前景的水稻功能基因；在水稻杂种优势利用的生物学基础研究取得了系列进展；提出了“绿色超级稻”理念（少打农药、少施化肥、节水抗旱、优质高产），带领团队培育出一批具绿色性状的水稻品种大规模应用于生产；倡导 “双水双绿重塑鱼米之乡”，推进了稻田种养的新理念新模式；推动水稻育种方向由追求产量向营养健康稻米变革，培育“米饭型全谷黑米”新品种，倡导并践行黑米主食化行动。为我国资源节约型环境友好型的农业生产体系的建设，农业绿色发展的理论和实践做出了重要的贡献。