{"id":256835,"date":"2023-08-21T20:28:19","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T14:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=256835"},"modified":"2023-08-29T12:28:09","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T06:58:09","slug":"gene-edited-mustard-less-pungent-more-useful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/gene-edited-mustard-less-pungent-more-useful\/","title":{"rendered":"Gene-edited mustard: Less pungent, more useful"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>: The post is based on the article\u00a0\u201cGene-edited mustard: Less pungent, more useful<\/strong>\u201d published in<\/strong> The Indian Express <\/strong>on\u00a021st<\/sup> August 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: GS 3 \u2013 Agriculture<\/strong><\/p>\n

Relevance: <\/strong>About GTR genes-edited mustard<\/strong><\/p>\n

News:<\/strong> Oilseeds provide oil for cooking and protein-rich meals for animals. Rapeseed-mustard<\/strong> is a key Indian oilseed, constituting 42.6% of oil production and 30.3% of meal production.<\/p>\n

However, its high glucosinolate levels create pungent taste and odor<\/strong> in its products, making the oil less preferred by consumers and the meal unpalatable for the livestock.<\/p>\n

What alternative is being adopted by the scientists for the rapeseed-mustard?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Scientists are trying to breed rapeseed-mustard along the lines of canola quality by lowering glucosinolate levels<\/strong>. This will help in reducing the pungent taste and odor of the oil and meal.<\/p>\n

However, these low-glucosinolate mustard lines face issues in large-scale farming due to vulnerability to pests and diseases<\/strong>. Because glucosinolates also shield crops like mustard against pests and pathogens.<\/p>\n

While lowering glucosinolates benefits oil and meals, it compromises the plant’s overall defense. Therefore, novel breeding research plays a crucial role<\/strong> in addressing these challenges.<\/p>\n

How does novel research breeding help in addressing these challenges?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Novel breeding research involves glucosinolate production in leaves and pod walls, transported to seeds via glucosinolate transporter (GTR) genes<\/strong>. GTR1 and GTR2 classes encompass 12 genes responsible for this process.<\/p>\n

For example,<\/strong> CRISPR\/Cas9 gene editing was used to modify 10 out of 12 GTR genes in ‘Varuna’ Indian mustard.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Targeted gene editing of the Varuna mustard variety resulted in seed glucosinolate levels below the 30-ppm of the canola-quality limit. Whereas other parts like leaves and pod walls had notably higher glucosinolates.<\/p>\n

This low-seed, high-leaf glucosinolate<\/strong> edited lines demonstrated defense responses better than the wild-type mustard, due to the high glucosinolate concentration in leaves and pod walls.<\/p>\n

Whereas the low glucosinolate levels<\/strong> in seeds<\/strong> will reduce the pungent taste and odor in the oil and meals, making it useful for both animals and humans.<\/p>\n

What are the characteristics of this new GTR genes-edited mustard?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The new GTR genes-edited mustard lines are transgene-free<\/strong>, meaning they are not genetically modified (GM) and lack foreign genes found in Bt cotton or GM hybrid mustard.<\/p>\n

The low-seed high-leaf glucosinolate mustard lines are genome edited (GE)<\/strong>, different from GM or transgenic plants. The final GE lines also do not possess the Cas9 protein and are devoid of transgenes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moreover, in India, strict rules governed by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC<\/strong>) under the Ministry of Environment oversee GM crop cultivation.<\/p>\n

But in March 2022, a new rule was introduced by the Ministry stating that GM plants without added foreign DNA don’t require GEAC approval<\/strong> for field tests or commercial sale.<\/p>\n

This change means that clearance is now only required from an Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBSC<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

What is the way ahead?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

India imports a substantial amount of edible oils, covering over 60% of consumption.<\/p>\n

Therefore, it’s crucial to boost domestic oilseed production through breeding for improved yields, pest resistance, and quality, to curb foreign exchange outflow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: The post is based on the article\u00a0\u201cGene-edited mustard: Less pungent, more useful\u201d published in The Indian Express on\u00a021st August 2023. Syllabus: GS 3 \u2013 Agriculture Relevance: About GTR genes-edited mustard News: Oilseeds provide oil for cooking and protein-rich meals for animals. Rapeseed-mustard is a key Indian oilseed, constituting 42.6% of oil production and 30.3%… Continue reading Gene-edited mustard: Less pungent, more useful<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[218,216],"class_list":["post-256835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-agriculture","tag-gs-paper-3","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256835\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}