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Weird New Fruits Could Hit Aisles Soon Thanks To Gene Editing (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Smooth or hairy, pungent or tasteless, deep-hued or bright: new versions of old fruits could be hitting the produce aisles as plant experts embrace cutting-edge technology, scientists say. While researchers have previously produced plants with specific traits through traditional breeding techniques, experts say new technologies such as the gene-editing tool Crispr-Cas9 could be used to bring about changes far more rapidly and efficiently. Among the genes flagged in the new study in the journal Trends in Plant Science are those behind the production of a family of substances known as MYBs, which are among the proteins that control whether other genes are switched on or off.
"MYBs are great targets because they are central to several consumer traits or features like color, flavor [and] texture," said Andrew Allan, a co-author of the review from the University of Auckland whose own projects include working on red-fleshed apples and changing the color of kiwi fruits. "Russet skin in apple and pear [is linked to MYBs]. Hairs on peaches but not nectarines -- another type of MYB." Dr Richard Harrison, head of genetics, genomics and breeding at the horticultural organization NIAB EMR, who was not involved in the article, said tweaking MYB genes or the way such genes are themselves controlled was a fruitful approach. Gene-editing of MYB genes and other genes could bring a host of benefits, Harrison said, adding: "There is a large opportunity to improve the nutritional profile of fruits and vegetables in the future using gene-editing technology, as well as other techniques." Such techniques, he said, introduce the same sort of DNA changes as plant breeders have introduced by artificially selecting traits that cropped up through spontaneous DNA mutation -- but much faster. Next week, the European Court of Justice will decide if or how plants that have been gene-edited will be regulated, and whether they will be treated like genetically modified plants. In April, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it will no longer regulate genetically altered plants, so long as the changes could have been produced through traditional plant-breeding techniques.
"MYBs are great targets because they are central to several consumer traits or features like color, flavor [and] texture," said Andrew Allan, a co-author of the review from the University of Auckland whose own projects include working on red-fleshed apples and changing the color of kiwi fruits. "Russet skin in apple and pear [is linked to MYBs]. Hairs on peaches but not nectarines -- another type of MYB." Dr Richard Harrison, head of genetics, genomics and breeding at the horticultural organization NIAB EMR, who was not involved in the article, said tweaking MYB genes or the way such genes are themselves controlled was a fruitful approach. Gene-editing of MYB genes and other genes could bring a host of benefits, Harrison said, adding: "There is a large opportunity to improve the nutritional profile of fruits and vegetables in the future using gene-editing technology, as well as other techniques." Such techniques, he said, introduce the same sort of DNA changes as plant breeders have introduced by artificially selecting traits that cropped up through spontaneous DNA mutation -- but much faster. Next week, the European Court of Justice will decide if or how plants that have been gene-edited will be regulated, and whether they will be treated like genetically modified plants. In April, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it will no longer regulate genetically altered plants, so long as the changes could have been produced through traditional plant-breeding techniques.
I'll have more stuff to avoid at the grocery store. Thanks Science!
People don't like change or unexpected tastes. There is a reason that green ketchup died.
A faaar better use would be to make healthy foods slightly more palatable without sacrificing it's high nutritional value. Sadly, I foresee this being used to make fruits far sweeter which would make them very unhealthy.
What we need the government to start doing is evaluating goods based on their heath impact and how addictive they are and then place a tax on the food that will later be used to pay for the healthcare you'll need from consuming them. Humans are bad a long-term decision making therefore turning the long-term decision into a short-term one helps people make better choices.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
I don't care how badly they mutilate the fruits and veggies JUST SO LONG AS THEY ARE LABELLED AS GMO. Let the market sort it out. What are the corporations hiding that they would fight tooth and nail against labels? Don't people have a simple right to know what they are buying and eating?
I think the most appropriate objection to GMOs is that Monsanto (now Bayer) uses them to lock farmers into hyper-exploitative contracts and uses heavy-handed legal tactics to enforce them, leading to collateral damage (farmers being wrongly sued for using unlicensed seeds) and suicide by farmers crumpling under the pressures exerted by Monsanto/Bayer.
On the GMO topic per se, I'm with the large number of scientists who can't see anything wrong with it. Gene splicing and editing are just new and different ways of doing what we've always done with crops. With technological developments like these, I think we're due for a review of our agricultural policies and laws but in the public interest, i.e. no corporate and lobby money allowed. But I guess that's just a pipe-dream.
Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
Nothing new about using crispr for fruits. I've been using my crispr for fruits and vegetables for a long time. The drawer next to the crispr is where I keep my cheese and stuff. Milk goes on the top shelf, eggs in door.
https://xkcd.com/1387/
If the frankenfoods are clearly labeled as GMO, hardly anyone will buy them. Probably the government will try to force people on public assistance to eat GMO, so their bribe-contributors in the industrial farming business will have *someone* to buy their unwanted garbage.
I think there is a point in breeding crops the slow traditional way over several generations (of crops): You notice the faults with a breed of crop over some time, and you often have a larger number of different seeds to use for the next generation.
Of course you could do gene editing in a responsible, slow way too, but it gene editing is being sold on its speed and instant results.
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
I doubt that GMO "certainly" explains why we're so damned unhealthy as a country. Do you have a reference? What biological mechanism would cause GMO to make you unhealthy? Stop making things up.
Most likely it is due to an inverted food pyramid of high-calorie fatty snacks, sugary soft drinks, and greasy deep-fried foods, along with inactivity. I've rarely seen an unhealthy/obese person on a Mediterranean diet (not just starting the diet but on it for many years). Most of the fresh fruits, nuts, and vegetables in that diet are GMO in one way or another unless you go to an extreme in seeking out non-GMO produce.
Broccoli, kale, brussels sprouts, and cabbage are all cultivars of the same species: Brassica oleracea. Turnips, bok choy, and Napa cabbage are all cultivars of Brassica rapa. It's not true that supermarkets don't stock variants of the same fruits or vegetables. The thing is that in some cases the cultivars are so wildly different we don't even recognize them as the same thing.
I've been shopping at supermarkets for over fifty years now. Here's the big change since the 1960s: supermarkets have gotten larger and larger, but the space devoted to ingredients and vegetables has shrunk as prepared convenience foods have exploded. Within the vegetable aisles there's always exotic stuff on offer, but cooking basics can be hard to find. Sometimes I have to raid dieter snack trays for celery and carrots, but if I'd wanted dragonfruit and tamarind I'd have been in luck.
I think this is because people are cooking less, and when they do cook it's more likely to be a special event. They watch cooking reality or adventure travel shows, and when they come across a giant spiny jackfruit next to the tomatoes, they know what it is and want to try it.
So people will absolutely try new things, but I'm not sure how you market something that is (a) familiar but different and (b) not tied to some kind of cultural tradition getting media exposure.
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