AGL 38.15 Increased By ▲ 0.90 (2.42%)
AIRLINK 121.51 Decreased By ▼ -2.51 (-2.02%)
BOP 5.85 Increased By ▲ 0.23 (4.09%)
CNERGY 3.75 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.81%)
DCL 8.40 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (1.82%)
DFML 40.89 Increased By ▲ 0.62 (1.54%)
DGKC 84.60 Decreased By ▼ -1.14 (-1.33%)
FCCL 32.70 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.31%)
FFBL 65.50 Decreased By ▼ -1.00 (-1.5%)
FFL 10.05 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-1.08%)
HUBC 103.80 Increased By ▲ 0.70 (0.68%)
HUMNL 13.25 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-1.12%)
KEL 4.43 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (4.24%)
KOSM 7.09 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-1.25%)
MLCF 37.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.80 (-2.09%)
NBP 60.25 Decreased By ▼ -4.76 (-7.32%)
OGDC 172.25 Decreased By ▼ -1.55 (-0.89%)
PAEL 24.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-0.4%)
PIBTL 5.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-1.72%)
PPL 141.69 Decreased By ▼ -1.01 (-0.71%)
PRL 22.72 Decreased By ▼ -0.26 (-1.13%)
PTC 14.74 Decreased By ▼ -0.37 (-2.45%)
SEARL 64.56 Decreased By ▼ -0.79 (-1.21%)
TELE 7.14 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (2%)
TOMCL 35.50 Decreased By ▼ -1.41 (-3.82%)
TPLP 7.29 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.68%)
TREET 14.20 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.56%)
TRG 51.75 Increased By ▲ 2.05 (4.12%)
UNITY 26.60 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (1.72%)
WTL 1.22 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-1.61%)
BR100 9,483 Decreased By -118.3 (-1.23%)
BR30 28,371 Decreased By -202.1 (-0.71%)
KSE100 88,967 Decreased By -1319.8 (-1.46%)
KSE30 27,827 Decreased By -515.9 (-1.82%)
Technology

Scientists hack genes of plants to make them super-sized

Making its way to agriculture, scientists have used technology to create gigantic plants with the help of gene-hack
Published January 14, 2019

Making its way to agriculture, scientists have used technology to create gigantic plants with the help of gene-hacking.

Researchers from the University of Illinois have gene-hacked plants in order to make them enormous, an application that can greatly increase food yields and hence reduce global hunger.

The researchers added new DNA instructions to tobacco plants in order to coax them to grow larger in response to light. These changes led to yield increases of up to 40%, as per the paper published in the journal Science.

The process used, called ‘photorespiratory bypass’, is a cassette of genetic alterations that let the plants turn sunshine into energy more effectively. The genetically customized plants were taller and heavier than the regular ones. “I was skeptical the entire way, but you can really see the difference,” once of the researchers, Paul South told MIT Tech.

Bill Gates warns gene editing can ‘make inequity worse’

According to Futurism, the researchers now aim to make similar changes to the genetic code of other crops, including potatoes, soybeans and cowpeas. However, it could take decades before regulatory authorities give green light to large plants for human consumption.

Moreover, their gene-hacking technique also grabbed attention of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has contributed around $80 million to the research in order to help the technology improve global food security.

“By 2050, we’re pretty certain that we have to increase crops yields by anywhere from 25%-70% to feed all the hungry people in the world. We don’t have another obvious way to increase yield other than taking a genetic engineering approach,” said co-author Amanda Cavanagh.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019

Comments

Comments are closed.