Alexander Mazel, a researcher at the Hebrew University of Gerusalem, has identified a gene that when over-espressed, allows plants to survive in difficult soils, in particular those characterised by a high level of heavy metals, salty water or containing little moisture. Mazel, recently awarded the Kaye prize for this innovation, has undertaken his studies of Arabidopsis, a plant commonly used in the laboratory, demonstrating that those plants in which the gene was expressed were better and survived better in comparison with the wild variety of Arabidopsis, in soils containing cadmium, salts or detergents (digitonin). The discovery should now allow scientists to extend production of useful crops such as squash, melon, cucumber , tomato (and some ornamental crops) in more hostile areas of land. It might also permit the planting of certain species in polluted areas to restore and improve the land for agricultural and horticultural use (Arabidopsis has been found to absorb cadmium from the soil). His work was mainly conducted in the Negev. The Univeristy is currently negotiating a collaborative agreement with a private Hi-Tech Company to conduct further research on the gene addressed to applications in agriculture. www.bioisreal.com