“Genetic scissors” have the potential to provide food security for millions of people.
For billions of people, rice is a basic food. It is without a doubt one of the most significant crops on Earth and produces over 20% of the world’s calories. However, a disease known as “rice blast” decimates 10–30% of the world’s rice production each year. To put it another way, up to 6% of the food produced worldwide every year is lost to just one illness.
According to Pamela Ronald, a renowned professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at UC Davis who participated in the study, “Blast is the most serious plant disease in the world because it affects virtually all growing regions of rice and also because rice is a huge crop.”
CRISPR steps onto the scene at this point.
Cutting and pasting genes
CRISPR is a relatively new technology that has only just been available. In essence, the method enables researchers to insert genetic sequences into many creatures using innocuous microbes. Several species, including humans (for the treatment of genetic diseases), have already benefited from its usage. Researchers have now discovered a method to employ it against explosion.
Following the sequencing of many rice plants, scientists discovered a mutation that provides defense against the virus. However, plants with this mutation didn’t yield as much rice. In order to introduce the mutation to additional plants, researchers employed CRISPR. In essence, they made rice plants resistant to blast infection (as well as two other illnesses) without significantly lowering their yields.
“We’re hoping that people can […] edit them to get a nice balance between resistance and high yield,” said Ronald.
Food security and fear
The outcomes showed great promise. The plants produced nicely and were in fact hardy. There’s a catch, though. A kind of rice that isn’t typically produced for meals was employed by the researchers. They utilized a fast-growing cultivar that is good for research. But the group is hoping that other scientists will build on their findings and extend testing to more usual varieties of rice.
Since they have a poor yield, many of these lesion mimic mutants have been found and mostly ignored, according to Ronald. We’re hoping that others would have a look at some of these and try to alter them to get a good balance between resistance and high yield.
Engineering plants to be disease resistant looks very much within reach with present technology, though it may still take some time. But it’s still unknown whether or not people will embrace it.
Customers don’t want GMO food, and there is substantial opposition to genetically modified plants in many nations. Nearly half of all customers in the US, for example, steer clear of GMOs. Consumers in the EU share similar worries.
Several attempts to introduce genetically engineered crops have proved successful. Nutrient-rich golden rice is enhancing consumer wellness in the Philippines, while GM eggplants are increasing yields and enhancing food security in Bangladesh.