4 ms·
Something I have been thinking about for a few years... How far away are we from being able to grow seeds on a substrate directly and skip growing the plant at
by seiferteric 6y ago
Something I have been thinking about for a few years... How far away are we from being able to grow seeds on a substrate directly and skip growing the plant at all? What I envision is a substrate that is able to provide the nutrients needed for embryo growth, maybe with micro channels or pores. You could "seed" the substrate with embryonic plant cells, then when they are done, you just scrape them off. Is that totally crazy?
- TheAdamAndChe 6y agoThat could be either algae or genetically modified yeast.
- h2odragon 6y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micropropagation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micropropagation like that?
- jdc 6y agoWith some more lab automation and approachable exposition we'll be all set.
- seiferteric 6y agoNot exactly, that's more about propagation of plants, after-which it grows into a normal plant. I am thinking that we could only grow the desirable part of the plant, like the seeds in the case of corn or wheat.
- NortySpock 6y agoI wonder if growing yeast, algae, or the CO2+H2 eating microbes that Solar Foods is working on will be cheaper to use either as an engineered food product or as feedstock for animals.
- seiferteric 6y agoIt's possible for animals, but for people then you have to eat "engineered food product" instead of wheat bread. So I think people will not like that. At that point we are essentially at soylent green. But I like the idea for animal food for sure.
- est31 6y agoIsn't bread an engineered food product?
- dredmorbius 6y agoWheat, grown in dirt fields under sunlight with water, is not.
- aidenn0 6y agoWheat has been undergoing genetic engineering for 10000 years.
- dredmorbius 6y agoIs there no conceivably way in which you might see such selection over centuries differing in any regard from lab-grown, factory-synthesized products?
- coding123 6y agoDon't feed the trolls. They understand the difference between baked bread and CRISPR editing. They're just trying to get a rise.
- aidenn0 6y agoI'm pretty sure there is no CRISPR modified wheat being sold in the US. The wheat from antiquity does not even remotely resemble wild grasses that it descends from and even less so today. Maize has even been intentionally hyrbidized for almost a century; I'm less familiar with wheat from that sense. Yes, tools like CRISPR are game changers and should be approached with caution (and we almost certainly aren't going to do so, at least for animal feed-stock crops), but GMO labeled food is very broad brush with often arbitrary distinctions (much like the "artificial" vs "natural" labeling rules)
- drran 6y ago1) It may take years, because surface area of seed is so small. 2) Seed will be contaminated. It will taste as leaf or straw.
- seiferteric 6y agoI am sorry, I don't understand this comment, can you explain? My idea is to replace the host plant with an artificial medium that will serve the same purpose. As far as development time, should it not be that same as the real thing? Or perhaps faster since you can ensure optimal delivery of nutrients?
- drran 6y agoIf you already have nutrients, then just consume them. :-/
- seiferteric 6y agoMmmm, nutrients. Makes my mouth water.
- haram_masala 6y agoYour mouth will water when you’re hungry enough.