Biotech Updates

Genome Editing Could be Used to Engineer Resistance to Virus and Cold-induced Sweetening in Potato

July 10, 2019

Society and the legislative authorities are often cynical about the presence of transgene in GMOs however, more advanced plant breeding techniques like CRISPR system transcend this limitation through transgene-free products. 

Potatoes are a major food crop globally, even having the potential to handle the rising world population. However, the cultivated potatoes are susceptible to plant viruses and cold-induced sweetening, which is the conversion of sucrose to glucose and fructose inside cell vacuole. To address these limitations, crop breeding and genetic engineering strategies have been employed to improve traits of the crop.Genes/factors that make potato a vulnerable crop, i.e. eukaryotic translation initiation factors that help viruses infect the crop and vacuolar invertase are targeted using new breeding techniques. 

One of these new breeding techniques is the CRISPR technology, which could reduce the cost of potato production. It is reported that this would most likely get through regulatory processes since it's transgene-free.

Read more from GM Crops & Food.