Sugarcane is the world s largest crop by biomass yield, providing 80% of the sugar and 40% of the biofuel produced worldwide. The plant s size and efficient use of water and light make it a prime candidate to produce advanced renewable, value-added bioproducts and biofuels.
Sugar just got a bit CRISPR: precise gene edits can improve sugarcane resilience, reduce its environmental impact zmescience.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from zmescience.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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IMAGE: CABBI s Fredy Altpeter, Professor of Agronomy at the University of Florida s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, evaluates field-grown genetically modified sugarcane (oilcane) at the UF/IFAS Plant Science Research Unit.. view more
Credit: Amy Stuart, UF/IFAS
Sugarcane is one of the most productive plants on Earth, providing 80 percent of the sugar and 30 percent of the bioethanol produced worldwide. Its size and efficient use of water and light give it tremendous potential for the production of renewable value-added bioproducts and biofuels.
But the highly complex sugarcane genome poses challenges for conventional breeding, requiring more than a decade of trials for the development of an improved cultivar.
Sweet success: CABBI demonstrates first precision breeding of sugarcane with CRISPR-Cas9 eurekalert.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from eurekalert.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.