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Dr Richard Summers on the evolution and domestication of wheat and the potential of GM and gene editing

EcoDoc Podcast

English - June 01, 2021 17:00 - 45 minutes - 31.5 MB
Nature Science bidoviersity ecology health environment medicine Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed


Will Liddell discusses the science behind plant breeding with Dr Richard Summers . We discuss the origins of wheat as a hybrid of wild grasses, its subsequent domestication by early farmers and the techniques of modern wheat breeding which have shaped modern what varieties. This includes some of the controversies regarding genetic modification (GM) and gene editing and the techniques wghich could transform esistance to pests and diseases.. 
Sound engineering by Rob Wynne-Griffiths.