For (probably) the first time ever, plants modified with the “genetic scissors” CRISPR-Cas9 has been cultivated, harvested and cooked. Stefan Jansson, professor in Plant Cell and Molecular Biology at Umeå University, served pasta with “CRISPRy” vegetable fry to a radio reporter. Although the meal only fed two people, it was still the first step towards a future where science can better provide farmers and consumers across the world with healthy, beautiful and hardy plants.
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This summer has been the first time that plants that have been gene-edited using CRISPR-Cas9 – in a way that does not classify the plant as GMO – have been allowed to be cultivated outside of the lab. . . . This time, it was a cabbage plant and the Radio Sweden gardening show . . . took part in the harvest leading to the probably first-ever meal of CRISPR-Cas9 genome-edited plants. . . . “Tagliatelle with CRISPRy fried vegetables”.
“The CRISPR-plants in question grew. . . in a garden outside of Umeå . . . and were neither particularly different nor nicer looking than anything else,” says plant scientist Stefan Jansson. But they represent . . . . a meal for the future.
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