07 November 2019
China plans to launch a recoverable satellite that will carry 240 kg of of seeds and plants, as well as other forms of life such as bacteria into space. The main goal is to see if during the 2 weeks of flight, seed mutations take place in the space environment that in the consequence might lead to better crops. Scientists would combine other biological technology such as genetic sequencing, molecular labelling and gene editing to help improve the efficiency of new crop species. The second most widely used mutant wheat variety in China, Luyuan 502, had been developed using space-induced mutation breeding, and had a yield 11 per cent higher than the traditional variety.
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