A research team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Science, together with multiple domestic universities, identified a high-protein gene, THP3-T, from wild maize and introduced it to raise protein content significantly in China’s main commercial maize varieties. The trait could reduce soybean-meal demand in livestock and poultry feed, lower China’s soybean import dependence and bolster feed-supply security; the study was published in Nature on June 3.