phenotype Archives

Cut of the crop: High-yields of non-browning eggplant via genome editing

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Ongoing research at the Khalifa Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, UAE investigates high-yielding yet non-browning eggplants using genetic modification.

Eggplant is cultivated globally – but its production is fraught with issues affecting the crop’s overall yield and post-harvest properties. The fruit can be less appealing when damaged or cut due to the enzymatic browning of tissues. Cultivating high-yielding yet non-browning eggplants is an area of ongoing research at the Khalifa Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, UAE. The researchers […]

Strength in difference: Genetic distance and heterosis in China

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China offers an almost unique opportunity to investigate heterosis in humans.

Cross-breeding between different species or populations can cause “hybrid vigour”, or heterosis, resulting in offspring who are genetically fitter than their parents. While this phenomenon is widely recognised in some plants and animals, it is poorly understood in humans. In recent work, Dr Chen Zhu of China Agricultural University, along with her colleagues Dr Xiaohui Zhang, Dr Qiran Zhao and […]

Systems biology and metabolic networks predict heterosis

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Heterosis or hybrid vigour is the improved function of a desirable quality in hybrid offspring. Predicting heterosis would mean that plant and animal breeding need not depend on time-consuming and costly field tests of numerous combinations. Dominique de Vienne, Professor at the University Paris-Saclay, France, uses metabolic networks and systems biology to study heterosis. Modelling metabolic systems has relied on […]