The quest to engineer the perfect potato

Super spuds are coming. A genetically modified potato that could resist destructive blight, defend itself against parasitic worms, avoid bruising, and cut down on the accumulation of a suspected carcinogen during cooking would be worth many billions of dollars per year to potato producers across the world. It could also serve as a model technology for addressing issues that affect many different crops and are increasingly likely to cause concerns about global food security as the population grows and the world’s climate becomes more unpredictable. This mega-resilient potato is the goal of a new project officially launched by researchers in the United Kingdom this week. More