Gyeongnam Agricultural Research and Extension Services Develops New Strain of Saesongi Mushroom for the 'Gene-Edited Crop Era'

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[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Saeyan] The Gyeongnam Agricultural Research and Extension Services announced on the 22nd that it has embarked on developing a new variety of King Oyster mushroom by combining gene editing technology capable of precise breeding with genetic breeding technology in line with the era of 'gene-edited crops.'

As of 2019, the domestic production volume of King Oyster mushrooms was 460,816 tons, of which 7,584 tons were exported to the United States, Europe, and other regions.

The King Oyster mushroom variety currently cultivated domestically is mostly the Large Oyster mushroom No. 2, which acts as an obstacle to expanding the domestic market and diversifying export countries.

To overcome this, it was necessary to establish an innovative breakthrough such as strengthening the competitiveness of domestic seed companies through the development of high-quality, high-income varieties and pioneering overseas export markets.

Accordingly, the Gyeongnam Agricultural Research and Extension Services has begun research to develop a new high-value-added King Oyster mushroom variety with improved agricultural traits through the development of CRISPR gene editors.

CRISPR gene-editing technology is a method that precisely cuts and edits the sequence of specific base pairs within the crop itself without introducing external genes, and it is expected to regulate agricultural useful traits that are difficult to obtain through traditional breeding.

Sim Sun-ae, a researcher at the Environmental Agriculture Research Division of the Agricultural Research and Extension Services, said, "By promoting the development of high-value-added gene-edited new crop varieties and securing the original gene-editing technology for King Oyster mushrooms, it will be an opportunity to enhance the competitiveness of the mushroom industry."

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