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A Better Rice Plant

The tsunami last year brought seawater sweeping over Japanese rice fields, but now British and Japanese researchers are close to developing salt-resistant rice plants, reports the Wall Street Journal. The researchers took an approach called MutMap, which uses bioinformatics and next-gen sequencing to identify markers for traits like salt resistance or plant height. "[Japan's Iwate Biotechnology Research Center's Ryohei] Terauchi and his team have since established a mutant collection for salt tolerance which they are screening for markers," says a press release from The Sainsbury Laboratory. "Once these have been identified, they will be used to develop rice cultivars that can be grown in paddy fields flooded by the tsunami last March." The scientists add that their approach should reduce the time it takes to develop such new crops.

The Scan

Positive Framing of Genetic Studies Can Spark Mistrust Among Underrepresented Groups

Researchers in Human Genetics and Genomics Advances report that how researchers describe genomic studies may alienate potential participants.

Small Study of Gene Editing to Treat Sickle Cell Disease

In a Novartis-sponsored study in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that a CRISPR-Cas9-based treatment targeting promoters of genes encoding fetal hemoglobin could reduce disease symptoms.

Gut Microbiome Changes Appear in Infants Before They Develop Eczema, Study Finds

Researchers report in mSystems that infants experienced an enrichment in Clostridium sensu stricto 1 and Finegoldia and a depletion of Bacteroides before developing eczema.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment Specificity Enhanced With Stem Cell Editing

A study in Nature suggests epitope editing in donor stem cells prior to bone marrow transplants can stave off toxicity when targeting acute myeloid leukemia with immunotherapy.