Biotech Updates

Gene Editing Could Boost Vegetable Supplies

March 1, 2017

Gene editing could boost vegetables supplies as well as their nutritional content, according to Corinne Marshall, intellectual property and licensing manager for Sakata Seed America, Inc.

"Compared with traditional backcross methods or mutagenesis, gene editing is more precise and more efficient," Marshall said. The gene editing technology could enable vegetables to more readily make their nutrients available.

"Lycopine and glucosinolates in broccoli can reduce chronic disease or slow disease such as cancer. Sulforaphane is a glucosinolate in broccoli, and most of us know that when we cook broccoli, we lose the nutrients. So gene editing can actually help us solve that problem and extend the nutrient to the cooked vegetable," Marshall added.

On the other hand, lycopene in tomato becomes bioavailable when cooked. Gene editing could be the tool to make fresh tomatoes more nutritious.

Read more from Genetic Literacy Project and Agrinews.