ST. LOUIS — Monsanto Co., said it has reached a global licensing agreement with the Broad Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University to allow it to use their Crispr genome-editing technology.
Gene-editing technology, which has been likened to a “search and replace function,” usually modifies an organism’s DNA without introducing foreign genes. Crispr promises to cut development costs while also requiring less government regulation than more established genetic-engineering techniques that require insertion of new genes into a plant’s genetic sequence. Crispr already has been used to develop a mushroom that resists browning as it ages, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has said it won’t regulate the variety, according to Bloomberg.
