First release of genetically engineered moth could herald new era of crop protection

Self-limiting diamondback moth may pave the way for sustainable approach to pest control: Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

A new vision for genomics in animal agriculture

The USDA blueprint predicts genomic technologies will play an increasingly central role in global livestock production; Frontiers in Genetics

Frontiers in Plant Sciences: The powerful gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 could help to breed cacao trees that exhibit desirable traits such as enhanced resistance to diseases

Cocoa CRISPR: Gene editing shows promise for improving the ‘chocolate tree’

The powerful gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 could help breed cacao trees with desirable traits such as enhanced resistance to diseases: Frontiers in Plant Sciences

Neuroscience

06 Mar 2018

Scientists move closer to treatment for Huntington’s disease

Improvements to gene-editing techniques hold promise for inactivating the defective gene responsible for Huntington’s disease : Frontiers in Neuroscience

Life sciences

15 Sep 2017

New method for producing malaria drug at large scales

A study in Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology shows that genetically engineered moss can rapidly produce artemisinin at an industrial scale.

Researchers lay the foundation for genetically engineering a species of microalgae that live in corals to stop a global coral bleaching catastrophe

Life sciences

27 Jul 2017

A super-algae to save our seas

Researchers lay the foundation for genetically engineering a species of microalgae that live in corals to stop a global coral bleaching catastrophe

Sustainability

12 Sep 2016

Don’t fear GM crops, they could help solve the sustainability crisis

by Emily Barker, Frontiersin.org Modified crops are nothing to be scared of and could be essential in solving the global sustainability crisis, explained Dr. James Lloyd, Deputy Field Chief Editor for Plant Biotechnology in the open-access journal Frontiers in Planet Science. Much of southern Africa is currently suffering consecutive seasons of drought, and farmers in Eastern Kenya have lost more than 80% of their crops due to lack of rain. These droughts, caused by climate change, could potentially leave 36m people across Africa facing hunger. However, there is hope in drought resistant crops. Over a five-year period, a total of 2.9 million farmers in 13 African countries saw their yields increase by 20% to 30% after sowing a variety of drought-tolerant hybrids. “I think that using this type of technology has huge potential to increase crop yields and I would be optimistic that we can increase food production as we need to in the next years or so,” he added. Making modified starch more ecofriendly Dr. Lloyd and his team, who are based in South Africa, have currently been working on increasing the amount of phosphate that’s bound to starch by manipulating plant genes. Modified starch is used by the paper […]