CRISPR- Modified corn by DuPont may soon de ready for market

Researchers at DuPont Pioneer have published a study about a strain of corn engineered with CRISPR to be more resistant to drought. Once it receives government approval, this could soon be the first-ever CRISPR-modified crop to go on sale. In this study, the DuPont engineers didn’t use CRISPR to alter maize’s DNA per se; instead, they changed how one single gene is expressed. Earlier studies had shown that if ARGOS8 was over-expressed, the plant would have a higher yield under stressful drought conditions, without changing how much food it can produce under typical conditions, the researchers write. When the researchers tested their CRISPR-altered maize in eight locations across the U.S., they found that it performed much better under dry conditions compared to conventional crops and those engineered in traditional plant breeding processes outside the lab. Before DuPont can make its maize available to farmers, the plant needs to be approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)