Science The Cool Down Scientists make key breakthrough in fight against major threat to food supply: ‘Far more effective’

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Researchers at the University of Connecticut have reportedly developed a method to genetically modify organisms without leaving any foreign genes behind. According to a study published in Horticulture Research, the method could be used to make plants more disease-resistant.

This approach could address two issues. For starters, many people don’t want genetically modified organisms — otherwise known as GMOs — in their food because of potential long-term health impacts. Dozens of countries have even banned the use of GMOs in food, and other countries have put strict regulations on them. If plant genomes are edited without leaving behind foreign genes, the crop isn’t considered a GMO.

More importantly, this method could make plants not only resistant to disease — as mentioned above — but also to drought and heat. As the planet continues to get warmer, extreme weather events such as droughts and heat waves threaten the global food supply. Hundreds of millions of people across the planet face chronic hunger, and this method could go a long way in protecting the food supply.

On top of that, lower crop yields due to these issues affect the income of farmers. The advancements made by Yi Li — a professor of horticulture plant breeding technology at the University of Connecticut College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources — could change all of that.

Scientists have edited plant genomes for years using the CRISPR gene-editing technology in an effort to develop plants with more desirable traits, but that generally leaves behind foreign genes. There are existing methods that don’t leave genes behind, but they’re typically time-consuming or technically demanding.

Li’s team first developed a transgene-free genome-editing method in 2018 and has refined it using kanamycin. This chemical can help identify cells temporarily containing CRISPR-related genes in plant cells infected by Agrobacterium, which can transfer part of its DNA into the plant genome. Cells containing CRISPR genes are more resistant to kanamycin than other cells, so the use of kanamycin allowed edited cells to grow without having to compete with unedited cells.

According to the study, the new method is 17 times more efficient than the previous version in producing genome-edited citrus plants, but it can be used on other plants.

“Our new but simple method is far more effective and can now be applied to a much wider range of plant species than our original approach,” Li said in a school release.

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