Want more crop variety? Researchers propose using CRISPR to accelerate plant domestication

Out of the more than 300,000 plant species in existence, only three species — rice, wheat, and maize — account for most of the plant matter that humans consume, partly because in the history of agriculture, mutations arose that made these crops the easiest to harvest. But with CRISPR technology, we don’t have to wait for nature to help us domesticate plants, argue researchers.