Could CRISPR save us from a future of food scarcity?

Scientists are hopeful that the gene-editing technology could help ease food insecurity as climate change continues to threaten crop yields and worsen global food insecurity on a planet with a growing human population.

Feeding a population of more than 8 billion people in a world stricken by an unpredictable climate will be a challenge we are forced to face in the near future.

Looking for solutions to this incoming problem, scientists are turning to CRISPR — a genetic code that stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Palindromic Repeats — which is found in the molecules of living organisms.

These are specialised gaps in DNA that allow living organisms to store the genetic code of viruses they’ve encountered. Next time the virus tries to attack, it is recognised and obliterated by the organism’s defences.

In short, the plant, animal, or human will have gained immunity.

The discovery of CRISPR has allowed scientists to successfully mimic this process in the lab, by inserting the genetic makeup of a variety of diseases into humans susceptible to illness. It is also now being explored as an avenue for treating…