Testing of Chardonnay edited to resist downy mildew starts today near Verona, while the prosecco variety awaits its turn in the greenhouse
CRISPR vines make their field debut in Italy
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CRISPRing at school – for 2$
Forget Odin, the controversial kit that was being sold online by controversial “biohacker” Josiah Zayner (getting people to play around with developing antibiotic-resistant bacteria is certainly not a good idea). At Stanford University they have developed a CRISPRkit for cell-free in vitro experiments that is easy and safe because the target is a harmless pigment. And the great thing is that it costs less than an American coffee (two dollars).
Continue readingNever underestimate RNA or lowly creatures
RNA interference, mRNA vaccines, RNA-guided editing. These are just some of the fields of biomedical research that have exploded in recent years and brought RNA out of the projected shadow of the most famous nucleic acid: DNA. Credit for the ongoing scientific and technological revolution goes to researchers such as Thomas Cech, who have been able to look beyond the double helix and, in many cases, have earned Nobel prizes (the latest being Katalin Karikό for the anti-Covid vaccine). But we also owe a nice gratitude to the strange critters who first exhibited some unexpected phenomena that later became of universal interest.
Continue readingWhere ag genetics goes (in Italy and beyond)
Four intense days of talks and discussions on the present and future of agricultural genetics. We will be there at the round table “Social impact of plant biotechnologies: challenges and opportunities” (12 September afternoon). See the full program here.
Holidays are coming (see you soon!)
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Climate friendly livestock? Let’s try microbiome editing
RIP Maxine Singer, pioneer in biotechnology
Maxine Singer was a pioneer in DNA research, inspirer of the Asilomar Conference for the self-regulation of genetic engineering, a key player in an exciting and tumultuous phase of biology, a voice for women in science. This is how the New York Times remembers her.
Meet Vittoria Brambilla: they tried to destroy it, but her CRISPR field lives on
The start of the first field trial with an edited plant had been greeted with joy by Italian scientists (here is the announcement in Nature Italy). However, less than two months after planting, unknown persons vandalized the harmless rice plants, Science reported. Fortunately, all was not lost: some plants survived, and with them the hope of completing this experiment and starting new ones. We talked about this with Vittoria Brambilla, who together with Fabio Fornara developed the edited rice at the University of Milan and obtained permission to study it outdoors to see how resistant it is to a fungal infection (rice blast). Please find the interview on the Italian site Agriscienza.
An RNA bridge for genome design
When small tweaks aren’t enough and massive DNA interventions are needed, a new biotech tool inspired by a peculiar class of jumping sequences may come to the rescue.
Barbara McClintock discovered mobile genes in the 1940s, and since then these transposable elements have never ceased to amaze.
A petition for CRISPR fields in Italy
This year Italy authorized the first field trial with an edited plant, a rice variety modified to resist a fungus. The trial was vandalized, but enough plants were saved to continue with reduced goals. Now the Italian Parliament should confirm the regulatory window that made the application possible for next year as well. No experimentation can run out after just one year, and there are many more plants developed in Italy with the New Genomic Techniques that deserve to be tested in the field. This is why the Luca Coscioni Association for Freedom of Scientific Research is collecting signatures and addressing the Parliament. I have signed, you can do so too at this link.
CRISPeR FRENZY 