SYDNEY, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Australian researchers have announced a major breakthrough that could transform global agriculture by enabling the creation of climate-resilient, region-specific crops.

By targeting combinations of temperature-responsive genes, researchers can now design bespoke crops with enhanced resilience to local environmental stresses, according to a release from the Melbourne-based Monash University on Friday.

The study challenges long-held beliefs about how plants sense temperature, revealing that plants rely on decentralized genetic networks rather than a single internal "thermometer" to detect and respond to heat, the release said.

According to the research team, this new understanding, published in Science, allows scientists to identify and precisely manipulate the specific genetic elements that govern plant responses to temperature.

"Understanding how plants naturally integrate temperature into their growth and defense systems opens the door to precision breeding and AI-assisted approaches to enhance crop resilience," said lead researcher Sureshkumar Balasubramanian from Monash School of Biological Sciences.

This breakthrough paves the way for creating crops specifically adapted to the distinct climate pressures of various regions, an essential advance as extreme weather events become increasingly common due to climate change, Balasubramanian said.

Co-author Sridevi Sureshkumar from Monash School of Biological Sciences highlighted that the approach surpasses current genetic modification techniques.

"Now that we have been able to identify exactly which elements within the plants are temperature-responsive, we can genetically manipulate them with greater accuracy," Sureshkumar said. ■