Ancient events in plant evolution have left behind large, duplicated regions in their genomes. Salk Institute scientists found that deleting these large blocks of DNA can still lead to normal plants. The findings demonstrate that large chromosomal deletions are a viable strategy in plant genetic engineering, which could now accelerate the development of streamlined, minimal plant genomes—a major goal in industries looking to create new plant-based biotechnologies.
Back to the basics: Minimal genomes yield viable plants for biotech applications
