In a lab at a U.K. research park, researchers from a startup called Tropic Biosciences are using CRISPR to create a better banana. The startup, which is also using gene editing to improve coffee, believes that technology could help save the fruit. Today, the company announced that it raised $10 million to commercialize its varieties of both coffee and bananas.

Both coffee and bananas are an important part of the food market–bananas are a staple food in some areas and the bestselling fruit in the world after tomatoes, and coffee is the most-consumed drink after water. Both are a major source of jobs; around 25 million people globally grow coffee. “If you look at the impacts on livelihoods, then it really is a very critical crop for some of the poorest people globally,” says Gilad Gershon, CEO of Tropic Biosciences. Both crops also face serious challenges.

Bananas are at risk from disease. The Cavendish banana, the variety now common in grocery stores after a fungus decimated a tastier variety, is now at risk from a new strain of the fungus that can quickly spread and kill plants. Another lethal bacterial infection, which is spreading in East Africa, causes bananas to rot. Because bananas are created by cloning other trees–a field of banana trees is basically identical genetically–if one tree is susceptible, the rest will be too.

“That creates a lot of exposure for the industry because a disease that kills one banana can wipe out the entire industry,” says Gershon. “A beetle that attacks one banana tree can attack all of them.”

Because the plants are cloned rather than bred, there’s no variation. “What you have is pretty much what you’re stuck with,” he says. “Because traditional breeding is not an option, gene editing makes a lot of sense, because the only way you can change the banana now is through genetics. If we don’t [take] this type of role and save the banana, I’m not sure there’s any other way to do it.” If bananas are more disease resistant, the industry can reduce its use of agrochemicals; right now, Gershon says, the industry spends roughly a quarter of production costs on fungicide.

The team is also working on editing bananas to help the very perishable fruit survive longer as it’s delivered to consumers. “Using gene editing in a non-GMO way, you can extend the shelf life of bananas,” says Gershon. “And by extending the shelf life you can significantly reduce waste.” CRISPR allows them to precisely edit DNA by, for example, snipping out a tiny portion of the genetic code, along with other advanced gene editing techniques. It compares these to a faster version of natural selection or traditional breeding; unlike some older GMO techniques, no foreign DNA ends up in the food.

For coffee, the startup has already successfully genetically edited a variety of bean that is naturally decaffeinated. Right now, producers typically remove caffeine through a process that involves soaking beans and steaming them. “The problem is that it’s a costly and relatively aggressive process,” Gershon says. The process can impact both flavor and nutrition. “If you grow the beans without the caffeine or with a lower amount of caffeine to begin with, then you can achieve an end product that is a lot closer in taste to normal coffee, and you can maintain a larger content of the very healthy compounds that are naturally found in coffee.”

With the new round of funding, the company, which was founded in 2016, will begin testing its new varieties globally. It will also help drive the regulatory approval process–as with other genetically edited foods, there is likely to be some consumer resistance (though CRISPR-edited foods are already available in the U.S.). The company will also explore additional possible foods to work on. In the past, companies using genetic modification have focused on major row crops like corn and soy. Tropic Biosciences wants to use advanced gene editing to focus on foods that have seen less innovation, but where there is an opportunity to make a meaningful impact.

At some point, it’s possible that companies that genetically engineer food might develop entirely new products–perhaps even a caffeinated banana, for example–but Tropic Biosciences plans to focus on “developing traits that really make sense to people, traits we can communicate easily,” Gershon says. “A lot of people drink decaffeinated coffee globally. We can produce something that they’re already drinking but it’s going to taste better, be healthier. It makes sense to us.”

Source: FastCompany

Traditional insecticides are killers: they not only kill pests, they also endanger bees and other beneficial insects, as well as affecting biodiversity in soils, lakes, rivers and seas. A team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now developed an alternative: A biodegradable agent that keeps pests at bay without poisoning them.

“It’s not just about the bees, it’s about the survival of humanity,” says Professor Thomas Brück, who heads the Werner Siemens Chair of Synthetic Biotechnology at TU Munich. “Without the bees that pollinate a wide variety of plants, not only would our supermarket shelves be quite bare, but within a short time, it would no longer be possible to supply the world’s population with food.”

Synthetically produced insecticides endanger not only bees but also beetles, butterflies and grasshoppers. They affect biodiversity in soils, lakes, rivers and seas. Their use has consequently been highly controversial for many years.

Repelling instead of poisoning

Brück and his team have now found an alternative: The insect repellent they have developed is biodegradable and ecologically harmless. Sprayed on plants, it works much like mosquito repellent used by bathers in the summer, spreading a smell that keeps away unwanted insects.

“With our approach, we are opening the door to a fundamental change in crop protection,” says Brück. “Instead of spraying poison, which inevitably also endangers useful species, we deliberately merely aggravate the pests.”

Bacteria as chemical factories

The Munich researchers were inspired by the tobacco plant, which produces cembratrienol in its leaves, CBTol for short. The plant uses this molecule to protect itself from pests.

Using synthetic biotechnology tools, Professor Brück’s team isolated the sections of the tobacco plant genome responsible for the formation of the CBTol molecules. They then built these into the genome of coli bacteria. Fed with wheat bran, a by-product from grain mills, the genetically modified bacteria now produce the desired active agent.

Efficiency in small and large scales

“The key challenge during production was to separate the active ingredients from the nutrient solution at the end of the process,” explains Mirjana Minceva, Professor of Biothermodynamics at the TUM Weihenstephan Campus.

The solution was centrifugal separation chromatography: a highly efficient process that works equally well on an industrial scale, but hitherto, had never been used to separate products from fermentation processes.

Equally effective against bacteria

Initial investigations indicate that the CBTol spray is non-toxic to insects, yet still protects against aphids. Since it is biodegradable, it does not accumulate.

In addition, the bioactivity tests showed that cembratrienol has an antibacterial effect on gram-positive bacteria. It can thus be used as a disinfectant spray that acts specifically against pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA pathogen), Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumonia pathogen) or Listeria monocytogenes (listeriosis pathogen).

Publication

Wolfgang Mischko, Max Hirte, Simon Roehrer, Hannes Engelhardt, Norbert Mehlmer, Mirjana Minceva and Thomas BrückModular Biomanufacturing for a Sustainable Production of Terpenoid-based Insect DeterrentsGreen chemistry, May 14, 2018

Source: Technical University of Munich

GOLDEN rice, which has been genetically modified to prevent blindness in undernourished children, was judged safe to eat last week by the US Food and Drug Administration.

The rice contains extra genes that make a precursor to vitamin A, which is vital for preventing childhood blindness. A single helping can supply half the recommended daily intake of vitamin A, according to its developers at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. The genes also give it its distinctive golden hue.

The nod by the FDA makes the US the fourth country to approve the rice this year, behind Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Having the rice cleared in these countries means there would be no regulatory issues if they imported food containing small quantities of the rice.

But its developer says the most important approvals are still awaited in the Philippines and Bangladesh, where the rice could have the greatest impact. Applications were lodged there last year.

Source: New Scientist