Gene-edited potatoes could mean healthier, safer french fries
Li X, Xin C, Guo J, Zheng Y, Huang F
Crispr
The next bag of fries or chips you buy could come from a potato engineered to resist the cold-storage sugar buildup that currently causes dark, acrylamide-laden fry batches.
Researchers used CRISPR gene editing to switch off two genes in a wild potato species: one that builds a hard-to-digest type of starch, and one that turns starch into sugar when potatoes are chilled. Turning off the first gene made the potato's starch much more resistant to digestion, which is good for blood sugar. Turning off the second gene stopped the sugar buildup that makes chips turn dark and form a chemical called acrylamide when fried.
Key Findings
Knocking out ScSBEII raised amylose content roughly 5-fold and shifted the amylose-to-amylopectin ratio from 22% to 54% of total starch, while resistant starch increased 1.2-fold and rapidly digestible starch dropped 4-fold.
Cold storage normally spikes vacuolar invertase activity 5-fold and reducing sugars 6-fold in wild-type tubers, driving cold-induced sweetening.
Single ScVInv knockouts and double ScSBEII/ScVInv knockouts produced chips with lighter color and much lower acrylamide than wild-type or single ScSBEII-edited lines.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists edited two genes in a wild potato relative to make a healthier, less processed-tasting potato: one edit boosts fiber-like resistant starch, and the other prevents the sugar buildup that causes dark, potentially harmful frying byproducts in chips and fries.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Multiplex CRISPR-Cas9 editing of starch branching enzyme II and vacuolar invertase simultaneously enhances resistant starch content and cold-induced sweetening resistance in Solanum chacoense.
Potato processing suffers from a high glycemic index due to amylopectin-rich starch and from undesirable color and acrylamide formation during frying, mainly caused by cold-induced sweetening (CIS)...
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The potato is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant Solanum tuberosum, a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.