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Crop: Lettuce (Lactuca sativa)
Property: Increased vitamin content, delayed browning
Ascorbic acid (better known as vitamin C) is an essential nutrient for humans and animals. Compared to "vitamin C bombs" such as oranges, kale or broccoli, there are relatively low levels of Vitamin C in lettuce. Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have succeeded in eliminating a gene with CRISPR/Cas, which has led to an increase in the vitamin C content of lettuce by about 150%. At the same time, the higher vitamin C content results in a slower browning of the lettuce, as vitamin C is oxidized first and thus protects the rest of the tissue from oxidative browning. (For the same reason, apple slices brown more slowly when sprinkled with lemon juice.)
Publication
Title | Genome editing of upstream open reading frames enables translational control in plants | ![]() |
Authors | Huawei Zhang et al. | |
Country | China | |
Journal | Nature Biotechnology | |
Year | 2018 | |
DOI | doi:10.1038/nbt.4202 |