Gene-edited bananas

Gene-edited bananas: It was recently developed by UK-based Biotech Company Tropic claim to remain fresh and yellow for 12 hours after being peeled.

• Aims to reduce food waste as bananas are highly perishable, with estimates suggesting that 50% of the crop goes to waste annually.
• About Gene-edited Bananas: Developed by Tropic to prevent browning and extend shelf-life.

o Browning is caused by the enzyme polyphenol oxidase (PPO), which breaks down the yellow pigment when in contact with oxygen.

o Bananas produce large amounts of ethylene, which triggers PPO activity and accelerates ripening.

o Gene-editing was used to disable PPO production without affecting the ripening process.

o Similar technique used in Arctic apples and shown to work in tomatoes, melon, kiwifruits, and mushrooms.

• Expected benefits: Reduces food wastage and CO2 emissions.

o Supports sustainability by cutting losses during harvesting and transportation.

o In India, fruit wastage caused a loss of over ₹30,000 crores in 2021, much of it from bananas and mangoes.

• Genome editing: It is a technology that allows scientists to alter an organism’s DNA by adding, removing, or changing genetic material.
• CRISPR-Cas9 (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats and CRISPR-associated protein 9): In this, researchers use a guide RNA and Cas9 enzyme to target and cut specific DNA sequences, allowing the cell's repair machinery to make precise genetic changes.
• Using CRISPR, the bacteria snip out parts of the virus DNA and keep a bit of it behind to help them recogniseand defend against the virus next time it attacks.

o Bacteria store viral DNA in CRISPR arrays to "remember" past infections.

o When re-infected, bacteria produce guide RNA that binds to the viral DNA, and the Cas9 enzyme cuts it, disabling the virus.