UK: Gene-edited blight-resistant potato breakthrough to "game-changer"
Fresh Common Potato
Vegetables
United Kingdom
Published May 25, 2023
Original content
Potato plants resistant to blight are one of the "game-changing" breakthroughs in Europe for gene editing, a new plant breeding technology. The UK has already given the go-ahead for gene editing, and several other countries have adopted it or are considering the use of gene editing. They may soon be joined by the EU, with the European Commission expected to propose deregulation of certain gene editing techniques. One of the exciting possibilities for farmers has been revealed after Dutch researcher Daniel Moñino-López successfully worked with CRISPR/Cas gene editing technology to breed potato crops in which pesticides to Control late blight disease can be drastically reduced. This is a major scientific breakthrough because potato is the third most important food crop in the world, after rice and wheat, in terms of human consumption. But the crop remains threatened by blight, a disease which causes between €3 billion and €10 globally of yield loss and management costs, each year. ...
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