Biotech Updates

ISAAA, in partnership with the Philippine Department of Agriculture Biotechnology Program Office and Biotech Coalition of the Philippines, will be launching its latest publication titled Breaking Barriers with Breeding: A Primer on New Breeding Innovations for Food Security on December 13, 2021 at 10 AM GMT+8 via Zoom.

University of Texas Scientists Discover Potential New Gene Editing Tools

New research conducted at The University of Texas at Austin has added to the number of naturally occurring versions of CRISPR-Cas system, giving researchers a wealth of potential new tools for large-scale gene editing.

Scientists Use TALENs to Edit Tuna

Japanese scientists were successful in using transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) to induce small mutations with major changes in phenotype of the kawakawa (Euthynnus affinis). Their study, which demonstrated the disruption of the gene slc24a5 using Platinum TALENs in the fish, is the first to use genome editing technology to study color variation in tuna species.

Researchers Edit Genomes of Microbes Growing in a Community of Different Species

Since their discovery, CRISPR enzymes have been used to edit the genomes of one type of cell at a time. Now, the group that invented the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology nearly 10 years ago has found a way to add or modify genes within a community of many different species simultaneously, opening the door to what could be called "community editing."