Modifying shelf-life of melons via gene editing

The gaseous plant hormone ethylene has been long known to promote fruit ripening and plays a certain role in shelf-life. In a study published in Frontiers in Genome Editing, researchers performed gene editing using the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 system via modification of the ethylene synthesis pathway in the Japanese luxury melon (Cucumis melo var. reticulatus "Harukei-3") to increase its shelf life.