Italian Biologists Develop Rice Strain for ISS

Italian biologists have developed a strain of rice suitable for cultivation on the ISS. Growing regular rice on the International Space Station is challenging due to its very long stalk. To solve this problem, Italian researchers used the genome editor CRISPR/Cas9. Scientists studied numerous mutant variations of rice and selected "super dwarf" samples with stalks shorter than ten centimeters. The team is currently continuing to improve the new varieties to achieve better yield and resilience.