Is gene editing the future of the produce industry? - FreshFruitPortal com freshfruitportal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from freshfruitportal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Bill Oxford / iStock / Getty Images Plus We know hundreds of times less or thousands of times less about the genomics of plants than we know about human genetics.
As an internationally recognized expert in the field of gene editing, Rodolphe Barrangou emphasizes that the knowledge of such groundbreaking technologies as CRISPR is only partial when it comes to plants as compared to the knowledge of gene editing in humans.
“We know hundreds of times less or thousands of times less about the genomics of plants than we know about human genetics,” says Barrangou, a professor in probiotics research at North Carolina State University and the co-founder of TreeCo, a new biotech forestry company.
UF/IFAS uncovers mystery of Vanilla DNA, could lead to successful new crop for South Florida southdadenewsleader.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from southdadenewsleader.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Researchers have generated a “chromosome-scale” sequencing of vanilla DNA.
The researchers believe their work is an essential tool that will be used to make growing vanilla a successful South Florida crop for commercial and home growers.
Researchers sequenced four vanilla species from a 300-plus collection established at the Homestead research facility. As a result, genetic information was revealed which lays the groundwork for desired genetic traits.
“This research unlocks all the potential for improving vanilla.”
“The vanilla genome reported in this study will enable accelerated breeding of vanilla pods with improved bean quality, plants with superior disease resilience and higher yields to support a new, domestic market,” says Alan Chambers, tropical plant geneticist at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Tropical Research and Education Center.
The Not-So-Plain Story of Vanilla and Elo’s Efforts to Revitalize the Industry
Most of us never consider where we get vanilla, that ubiquitous flavor found in everything from ice cream to over-the-counter medicines.
Elo Life Systems does. The Durham food and agriculture company is applying the power of genomics to improve the plant that supplies the most widely used extract in the consumer products industry.
And it’s none too soon for the long list of multinational companies that use vanilla – close to 18,000 products contain natural or artificial vanilla flavoring. Or for farmers in some of the poorest countries in the world who count on the crop to feed their families.