Biotechnological firms, led by US-based Monsanto and Switzerland-based Syngenta, have come up with a new crop technology called ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) that will help control insects and pests in a range of crops by disabling their genes.
The technology, which zeroes in on a genetic sequence unique to a species, will also help protect bees, which are pollinators for one-third of crops in the world.
RNA, considered a sort of messenger in cells, is a genetic code in every living being for a specific function within a cell for survival.
RNAi, a discovery that got Nobel prize for Andrew Fire and Craig Mello in 2006, works by interfering with the genetic code or message that RNA carries to protein factories within a cell. A plant cannot produce a particular protein if does not receive any instruction from the RNA code.
For example, the interference process can be used to disable an enzyme in a cell.