Speed breeding: AI pollinating CRISPR gene-edited flowers are in development

For millennia, developing resilient crops relied on pollination by nature or humans—making the process long and often costly. Now, scientists from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (IGDB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have reimagined the pollination process by developing a new system that uses gene editing to create flowers that can be easily pollinated by AI-controlled robots working round the clock.

The system, known as Genome Editing with Artificial-Intelligence-based Robots (GEAIR), addresses a long-standing pollination hurdle: Hybrid breeding—which involves cross-pollination between different parent plants—produces higher-yielding, hardier crops. However, it relies on slow, costly manual labor to manage the pollination since recessed stigmas (female organs) and complex floral structures in key crops like tomatoes and soybeans have stymied robotic automation.

Drawing inspiration from the Green Revolution—when crops were reengineered for machinery—the team pioneered “crop–robot co-design” to create crops well-adapted to robotic technology. 

…

Related on the SLP

Creating easy pollinating flowers: How AI and gene editing work round-the-clock to speed up crop breeding With hopes fading about finding signs of life on the exoplanet K2-18b, scientists refocus on exploring the Moon and Mars, with providing food the largest challenge

Guinea-Bissau halts widely condemned RFK Jr.-backed vaccine trial that would have withheld life-saving vaccines from thousands of newborns

‘Disillusioned’: Controversial RFK Jr. ally and MAHA leader Calley Means quits Trump advisory role

Supreme Court blocks Trump’s order halting transgender surgeries and hormone treatments for inmates

The result is plants that are both male-sterile (eliminating the need for emasculation) and have protruding stigmas, making them easy for robots to access.

This is an excerpt. Read the original post here