Corn and other important crops can now be gene edited by pollen carrying CRISPR
The genome editor CRISPR has transformed many areas of biology, but using this tool to enhance certain varieties of crops such as wheat and corn remains difficult because of the plants' tough cell walls. Now, a major agricultural company has creatively solved that problem by using pollen from one genetically modified plant to carry CRISPR's components into another plant's cells. The solution promises to speed the creation of better and more versatile crops, scientists say.
In its initial experiments, the company has edited varieties of corn to have more or heavier kernels, which could make them higher yielding [DOI: 10.1038/s41587-019-0038-x] [DX]. "Nice!" says Daniel Voytas, a plant biologist at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul who helped invent a different genome editor and co-founded another company to exploit it. "It's exciting that an increasing number of research groups—both in academia and industry—are thinking of new ways to deliver gene-editing [components] and to efficiently recover gene-edited plants."
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 07 2019, @04:24PM (3 children)
I'm all for science, but the people that dreamed this up need a mandatory round of socialization training.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday March 07 2019, @04:45PM (2 children)
90% of All the Scientists That Ever Lived Are Alive Today [futureoflife.org]
There's probably a few million "official" scientists out there, and potentially tens or hundreds of millions of amateur scientists. The global population is growing and has access to lots of useful information if they can get a Web connection and reach Sci-Hub and other places. Professionals and amateurs alike acquire more capable and affordable equipment over time. Good luck with the socialization training, or mail bombs, or whatever dumb scheme you think will halt progress.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday March 07 2019, @05:14PM (1 child)
But mail bombs is fun :(
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday March 07 2019, @05:47PM
When shit hits the fan, you can indulge. Assuming there is still a mail service.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]