NEWS | Chic >
CHIC scientists and artists meeting at Keygene
Scientists and artists meet at KeyGene -an independent biotechnology company- in Wageningen, last week.
The CHIC project aimed at implementing New Plant Breeding Techniques in chicory, in order to establish it as a multipurpose crop for sustainable molecular farming of products with consumer benefits. Chicory contains many healthy substances which can, for example, slow down the growth of fungi and bacteria. The crop is very difficult to breed using the current technologies, breeding, and selection, and it is also hard to increase production of the healthy components. New breeding techniques such as CRISPR-Cas can be used to develop new chicory varieties, which contain more fibers and components suitable for medicinal applications.
New approach
CHIC aims to implement innovative communication tools, including cultural communication and linking art to science, to improve understanding of New Plant Breeding Techniques by the public and for informed decision making.
Learn more: http://chicproject.eu/what-is-chic/
More news about this project:
Assessing the intestinal permeability and anti-inflammatory potential of sesquiterpene lactones from chicory
Chicory is a main dietary source of sesquiterpene lactones (SLs), which have underexplored bioactive potential. It has recently gained popularity due to large quantities of health promoting compounds in its roots, including inulin and SLs.
XI International Agriculture Symposium – AGROSYM 2020
In the article “Metabolic Engineering in Chicory by CRISPR/Cas9 Editing”, presented at the XI International Agriculture Symposium “AGROSYM 2020”, held virtually on 8-9th of October 2020, a recently popular gene editing technique was used to alter chicory genes involved in the metabolism of bitter compounds that belong to the group of terpenoids.
What does young generation think about gene editing?
Since the CHIC project’s inception 30 months ago, several essential steps and first results continue to arise and become available for the general public. More plants are being evaluated, and a variety of methods for testing safety purposes are in development, in the belief that CHIC will bring healthy and safe products to consumers. Even at the onset of regulatory changes in genome-edited plants, the project is moving forward to achieve what the scientists set out to do.
