[favoritecolor]

Original paper linked here (behind paywall) [0]. The researchers introduced the human FTO gene into plants to increase crop yields.

Would this be cannibalism?

You could use RNA demethylases from other organisms for sure, but it's a really interesting and weird concept, whether people would consider eating a plant expressing human proteins to be taboo.

[0] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-021-00982-9

[hirundo]

We share the majority of our genes with other animals and plants. If sharing a gene with humans makes eating it cannibalism it becomes cannibalism to eat almost any living thing.

https://www.saps.org.uk/saps-associates/browse-q-and-a/473-h...

[gus_massa]

They probably used the human version for laziness, because it is probably available on the shelf. If it causes too many problems for the PR department, they can switch to the chimpanzee version, or the mice version. They are very similar (or identical?).

[thomasweiser]

https://www.gwern.net/docs/genetics/editing/2021-yu.pdf

[moses-palmer]

And of you would consider it taboo, would you still if the same generic sequence were found in another species?