Gene-Editing Startups Ignite the Next ‘Frankenfood’ Fight

Gene-Editing Startups Ignite the Next ‘Frankenfood’ Fight
A research scientist examines a soybean plantlet in New Brighton, Minn.; Nov. 1, 2016. Calyxt/Handout via Reuters
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In a suburban Minneapolis laboratory, a tiny company that has never turned a profit is poised to beat the world’s biggest agriculture firms to market with the next potential breakthrough in genetic engineering - a crop with “edited” DNA.

Calyxt Inc, an eight-year-old firm co-founded by a genetics professor, altered the genes of a soybean plant to produce healthier oil using the cutting-edge editing technique rather than conventional genetic modification.