Credit: International Potato Center (CIP)
This article or excerpt is included in the GLP’s daily curated selection of ideologically diverse news, opinion and analysis of biotechnology innovation.
Research on Ghana’s first gene-edited crop a high-yielding sweet potato with increased beta carotone 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 the university’s Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, who has been working on the project for the past year. “Beta carotene is a big deal for us because as animals, when we eat beta carotene, our cells are able to convert them into vitamin A.”