Tech Article 2/26

CRISPR offers an easy, exact way to alter genes to create traits such as disease resistance and drought tolerance.

• A new gene-editing method is providing a precise way to modify crops in hopes of making them yield more food and resist drought and disease more effectively. Research in the past year has shown that the resulting plants have no traces of foreign DNA, making it possible that they will not fall under existing regulations governing genetically modified organisms and will sidestep many of the consumer concerns over these GMOs. 
• A lab in China has used it to create a fungus--resistant wheat; several groups in China are using the technique on rice in efforts to boost yields; and a group in the U.K. has used it to tweak a gene in barley that helps govern seed germination, which could aid efforts to produce drought-resistant varieties.
• The gene-editing technique could be critical in helping scientists keep up with the constantly evolving microbes that attack ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZImVkl8QTW8