In the few years since its inception, CRISPR has been harnessed to edit genes in rice that confer protection against bacterial blight; to endow corn, soybeans, and potatoes with natural resistance to herbicides; and to produce mushrooms that are impervious to browning and premature spoiling. Scientists have used CRISPR to edit the genome of sweet oranges, and a team of California researchers is now attempting to apply the technology to save the U.S. citrus industry from a bacterial plant disease called huanglongbing—a Chinese name that translates as “yellow dragon disease”—that has devastated
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