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Ease regulatory burden to support ‘new revolution’ in crop breeding, researchers urge
It’s imperative to ease the regulatory burden on new crop breeding technologies that could feed a warmer, hungrier world, a new study urged. The safety risks from these new technologies are “very low compared to conventional breeding methods and/or spontaneous mutations,” according to a paper published in Critical Reviews…
Genome editing helps African researchers develop disease-resistant banana varieties
Though breeding programs using genome editing remain in their infancy on the African continent, public research institutions are leading the effort to utilize the technology to curb persistent agricultural production challenges. The genome editing tool known as CRISPR in particular has the potential to put biotechnology capabilities into the hands…
Gene editing can prevent eucalyptus from becoming invasive
Gene editing can prevent eucalyptus — a tree highly valued in Kenya and elsewhere for its hardy timber, wood fuel and medicinal extracts — from invading native ecosystems, a team of international researchers has shown. Dr. Steve Strauss of Oregon State University led a team of scientists in the research,…
Kenya looks to gene editing to grow its key food crops
Kenya’s agriculture is set to benefit from several gene-editing projects that target some of the country’s key food crops and livestock. Farmers raising sorghum, maize, bananas, pigs and cattle can expect good news from ongoing research projects that aim to improve disease resistance and build more robust crop and animal…
Four reasons to be optimistic about the future of genome editing
Though the past year delivered social, economic, health and personal difficulties that challenged people across the globe, science strutted its stuff. As the public looked to scientists to help them understand COVID-19 and deliver effective vaccines, they began looking more favorably upon a powerful tool known as genome editing. Here…
Engineered viruses can fight the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria
As the world fights the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing the COVID-19 pandemic, another group of dangerous pathogens looms in the background. The threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has been growing for years and appears to be getting worse. If COVID-19 taught us one thing, it’s that governments should be prepared for more global…
Latin American researchers use gene editing to breed hardier crops
Latin American researchers are using gene editing to breed hardier varieties of staple crops and fruits, according to an Alliance for Science Live webinar. Among them are Claudia Stange Klein, a professor in the Department of Biology of the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Chile, who…
Genome editing poised to secure global food supply, study finds
Genome editing is set to revolutionize plant breeding and could help secure the global food supply, according to a new paper in Cell. The technology is emerging at a time when the Food and Agriculture Organization is predicting the human population will reach 10 billion by 2050, requiring an…
Ghana scientist turns to gene editing to improve sweet potato crop
Research on Ghana’s first gene-edited crop — a high-yielding sweet potato with increased beta carotene content — is under way at the University of Cape Coast. “For sweet potatoes, we want to look at how we can use the CRISPR-Cas9 system to increase beta carotene,” said Samuel Acheampong of…