It’s not every day that two men sitting down to eat a plate of cabbage makes news around the world. But that’s exactly what has recently happened when scientists ate a meal created using plants modified with ‘genetic scissors’ called CRISPR-Cas9.
Scientists say that the meal marks the first step towards a future where science can better provide consumers around the world with healthy and hardy plants.
Researchers from Umeå University in Sweden served pasta with a ‘CRISPRy’ vegetables to a radio reporter.
CRISPR-Cas9 is the ‘Swiss army knife of genetic engineering’ which can change the genes of an organism.
Using the tool, researchers can either replace one of the billions of ‘letters’ present in the genome, or remove short segments – in the same way you could change a letter in a story, or a whole word.
This often happens naturally outside of the lab due to mutations which can change a letter or remove short segments.
The tool is already being tested for clinical applications, and could soon cure hereditary diseases, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy – which it has been shown to cure in mice.
But the situation somewhat differs in the agricultural field, due to legislation around genetic engineering.
After much debate, the US and Swedish authorities concluded that as CRISPR does not insert any foreign DNA, and only removes DNA, it is not regarded as a genetically modified organism (GMO).
This means that the technology is open to develop the plants of the future.
The researchers used CRISPR to modify a cabbage plant by removing a protein called PsbS, a ‘so called safety valve in photosynthesis.’
Professor Stefan Jansson planted and cultivated the altered cabbage, before serving it up with pasta to a local news reporter called Gustaf Klarin.
In his blog, Professor Jansson wrote: ‘To our delight – and to some extent my surprise – the meal turned out really nice.
‘Both of us ate with great relish. Gustaf even thought the cabbage was the best tasting vegetable on the plate, and I agreed.’
The researchers say that this marks a new phase of agriculture where healthy and hardy plants could one day be made available to farmers worldwide.
Daily Mail
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