In Russia, with the help of genome editing, new lines of wheat have been created, thanks to which cereals have received new consumer properties. This was told at the All-Russian Research Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology.

“For the first time in Russia, we have created a separate area — a laboratory for digital phenotyping of edited plants as part of the development of the genomic center,” said Mikhail Divashuk, Candidate of Biological Sciences, head of the genomic center-VNIISB. - The most interesting thing we do is probably the creation and study of full-fledged edited plants. And most of all we are interested in the main food crop in Russia - wheat.

Editing is based on the CRISPR/Cas9 technology used for directed genome editing, but the Russian technology is much broader than just CRISPR/Cas9.

“For the first time in the world, we edited several genes. One such gene (VRN1) is associated with the way of life of wheat - after all, there are spring and winter forms. As a result of the editing work, we see earlier heading dates.

This can be used for dry regions where wheat varieties with a reduced growing season are required,” explained academician Gennady Karlov, director of the All-Russian Research Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology.

Due to the fact that it became possible to edit genes in a targeted way, wheat varieties can now be “customized” to environmental conditions much faster than using classical breeding methods.

bbabo.Net