Gene editing crops to be colourful could aid weeding, say scientists

  • 📰 GuardianAus
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 46 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 22%
  • Publisher: 98%

Australia Headlines News

Australia Latest News,Australia Headlines

Creating visually distinctive plants likely to become important as more weed-like crops are grown for food

Genetically engineering crops to be colourful could help farmers produce food without pesticides, as it would make it easier to spot weeds, scientists have said.

He said new crops were hard to distinguish from weeds, so it would be important to find a way to tell them apart. The paper suggests the crops’ genomes could be altered so they express pigments such as anthocyanins, which give blueberries their colour, or carotenoids, which make carrots orange.), is grown for its nutritious seeds in India and Nepal and was a food source in Europe in the iron age – seeds are commonly found in the stomach of bog bodies,” said Palmgren.

Genetic science has helped find the genes responsible for the desirable traits that our ancestors selected for in crop plants, which means new crops with these traits can be bred much more rapidly using genetic engineering. Many wild plants are more tolerant to extreme weather and other climate-related impacts than current crop plants, so breeding them could help prevent food shortages as the climate breaks down.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 1. in AU

Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Surgeons transplant gene-edited pig kidney into living human for first timePreviously, pig kidneys have been temporarily transplanted into brain-dead donors but this recipient is “robust” and expected to be discharged soon.
Source: theage - 🏆 8. / 77 Read more »

Surgeons transplant gene-edited pig kidney into living human for first timePreviously, pig kidneys have been temporarily transplanted into brain-dead donors but this recipient is “robust” and expected to be discharged soon.
Source: smh - 🏆 6. / 80 Read more »

Surgeons transplant gene-edited pig kidney into living human for first timePreviously, pig kidneys have been temporarily transplanted into brain-dead donors but this recipient is “robust” and expected to be discharged soon.
Source: brisbanetimes - 🏆 13. / 67 Read more »

Scientist who gene-edited babies is back in lab and ‘proud’ of past work despite jailingChina’s He Jiankui, who used Crispr to edit genome, says he is working on genetic diseases and suggests human embryo gene editing will one day be accepted
Source: GuardianAus - 🏆 1. / 98 Read more »

Making study more human: how online education is creating powerful spaces for learningTertiary education can challenge our mental health and wellbeing, but online university study programs are transforming the way students are supported
Source: GuardianAus - 🏆 1. / 98 Read more »

Moscow concert hall attack: Russian day of mourning as UK says Kremlin creating ‘smokescreen of propaganda’Russians lay flowers and light candles outside Crocus concert hall as senior minister says UK has little confidence in Russia’s statements on the attack
Source: GuardianAus - 🏆 1. / 98 Read more »