An initiative launched two years ago by UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco to use CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to develop new disease therapies is expanding into research on the planet’s major crops and poorly understood microbiomes, with plans to invest $125 million in these areas over the next five years.
[Jennifer Doudna who co-discovered CRISPR says,] “that there are many others arenas in which better gene-editing tools can promote global health, specifically by improving crops and sustaining a healthy microbial environment that has been shown to prevent illness, improve crop yields and nurture a balanced ecosystem. At UC Berkeley we have the expertise in plant science and microbiology research to make a real contribution by designing higher-yield, more pest-resistant crops that a large proportion of the world’s population depend on, and fostering the microbial populations critical to human health and the health of the planet.”
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Brian Staskawicz, a UC Berkeley professor of plant and microbial biology, [said] … “In California alone, we grow 300 different crops, many of them improved by standard cross-breeding, which introduces all sorts of undesired traits along with the one you want. CRISPR-Cas9 allows us to introduce genes with a level of precision that we have not been able to do in the past and potentially cut four to five years off of breeding cycles.”
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