Research on proteins that could help scientists improve and develop new crops could get a significant boost thanks to a newly funded project aimed at unlocking the “dark matter” that regular research methods can’t see. Using a share of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Pioneer Award funding, the Hutton’s Dr Runxuan Zhang will explore novel computational techniques that improve how much data scientists can interpret when studying proteins by up to 80%. Until now, studying plant proteins, which control how plants grow and function, but also their health benefits, involves either costly genetic analysis or, more commonly, a technique called mass spectrometry. However, only 20% of mass spectrometry data can currently interpreted, largely because most of the computational analysis behind it isn’t sensitive enough, holding this area of science – which can also be used in human and animal health – back, says Dr Zhang. This winter the Hutton donated nearly 1,000 bags of locally grown potatoes to Scotland’s leading food redistribution organisation, FareShare. The nearly 8,000 kg donation was collected by FareShare at the institute’s campus at Invergowrie and taken to the charity’s five Regional Centres in Aberdeen, Alness, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow to be shared with communities in need ahead of the festive season. The potatoes had been grown as part of a large-scale field trial, successfully undertaken in 2023 at the Hutton’s Balruddery Farm. The field trial included a range of wellknown varieties which when harvested were bagged separately and donated to FareShare. These varieties are among 100 varieties of potatoes the James Hutton Institute has developed over the last century with legacy research and industry partners. Continued research projects aim to produce potatoes which can handle global threats posed by climate and nature crises including pests and disease, in order to contribute to better food security in the future. Pioneer funding to unlock protein “dark matter” Hutton donates nearly 8 tonnes of tatties to FareShare Hutton researchers have launched a project to test whether honey and bumble bees could be spreading diseases more widely than they would normally due to inadvertently picking up microplastics. It’s already known that microplastics, which are now everywhere in the environment, can harbour disease-causing microbes. By picking them up and moving them around as they buzz about their business, bees along with other busy pollinators could also be spreading the diseases microplastics carry. Research scientist Dr Amy Cooper, who recently won Seedcorn funding from the institute to run the project, says, “This is potentially a new way for diseases to spread. Microplastics are now everywhere and honeybees, in particular, are very exposed to plastic, in their hives, the clothes beekeepers wear and even their food. Other insects are less exposed, but if honeybees are carrying microplastics around with pathogens on them, it’s a potentially powerful way for diseases to spread in the environment.” Testing links between disease, bees and microplastics December 2023 5 The research, which will run for a year, will initially test how well two different types of disease-causing pathogens (both plant and insect pathogens) attach to microplastics. It will then monitor honeybees, wild bees and other pollinators at a site in northeast Scotland for microplastics.
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