making plants more resilient to disease and pests. tagged posts

This is a figure showing RNA sequence of command. Credit: Professor Jaramillo/University of Warwick

New research has discovered that RNA can be genetically engineered to allow scientists to program the actions of a cell. As well as fighting disease and injury in humans, scientists could harness this technique to control plant cells and reverse environmental and agricultural issues, making plants more resilient to disease and pests.

RNAs carry information between protein and DNA in cells, and Professor Jaramillo has proved that these molecules can be produced and organised into tailor-made sequences of commands – similar to codes for computer software – which feed specific instructions into cells, programming them to do what we want.

Much like a classic Turing computer system, cells have th...