Jan 21, 2016

‘Plant Hackers’ Look to Bioengineer Unconventional Plants

Traditional plant breeders may be facing a challenge from a new generation of “plant hackers” looking to develop new plants.

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, there is a new “millennial niche” of bioengineering that is emerging where the plant hackers are looking to create unique cultivars like glowing plants, flowers that change colors or fragrant mosses.

These “do-it-yourself” bioengineers” are tinkering with the DNA of plants to create very non-traditional plants like a true blue rose or plants that glow in the dark using DNA from bioluminescent jellyfish or fireflies.

According to Antony Evans, 35, CEO of Taxa, a Silicon Valley-based company that serves as a platform for would-be plant designers, this could represent a new future for both bioengineering and horticulture.

“I can see a future where genetic engineering becomes acceptable and commonplace, where some teenagers have ideas for plants and make them the same way kids make mobile apps today,” Evans told the Wall Street Journal.

Click here to read the Wall Street Journal article.