Sunday Evening News 398 - Week 43 - 2024
Weekly report on genetic engineering, genome editing, biotechnology and legal regulation.
Oktober 2024-10-21 - 2024-10-27
Die Akteure
Die Diskutanten (v.l.n.r wie in der Einladung aufgefühft
Es war mir eine Freude und Ehre an diesem interessanten Symposium teilzunehmen. Es hat einige neue Erkenntnisse gebracht.
Eine gute Zusammenfassung des Symposiums wird in der Pressemeldung (deutsch/englisch) wiedergegeben.
► Pressemitteilung: Science Policy Symposium: EU-Forschungsprojekt GeneBEcon bestätigt Offenheit von Verbrauchern für
NGT-Produkte und die Notwendigkeit eines verhältnismäßigen gesetzlichen Rahmens
Da auf dem Symposium die nationalen Koexistenzregeln im Zusammenhang mit dem Anbau von NGT-Pflanzen angesprochen wurde, habe ich hier noch eine Zusammenfassung der Regeln in der EU angehängt.
Verrière P. (Inf’OGM): PREVENTING GMO CONTAMINATION - AN OVERVIEW OF NATIONAL “COEXISTENCE” MEASURES IN THE EU.
https://www.organicseurope.bio/content/uploads/2020/06/ifoameu_policy_gmos_dossier_201412.pdf?dd
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Am 29.10.2024 wird der Berufungsausschuss über den Kommissionsvorschlag zur Zulassung von gv-Mais 94804 beraten und abstimmen. Wie in den letzten 10 Jahren üblich wird der Berufungsausschuss keine Stellungnahme abgeben und die Entscheidung der Kommission überlassen. Sehr wahrscheinlich wird somit dieser Mais noch in diesem Jahr zum Import als Lebens- und Futtermittel zugelassen.
It was a pleasure and an honor to take part in this interesting symposium. It brought some new insights.
A good summary of the symposium can be found in the press release (German/English).
► Press Release: Science Policy Symposium: EU research project GeneBEcon confirms consumer openness to NGT products
and the need for a proportionate legal framework
Since the national coexistence rules in connection with the cultivation of NGT plants were addressed at the symposium, I have attached a summary of the rules in the EU here.
Verrière P. (Inf'OGM): PREVENTING GMO CONTAMINATION - AN OVERVIEW OF NATIONAL “COEXISTENCE” MEASURES IN THE EU.
https://www.organicseurope.bio/content/uploads/2020/06/ifoameu_policy_gmos_dossier_201412.pdf?dd
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On 29.10.2024, the Appeal Committee will discuss and vote on the Commission's proposal for the approval of GM maize 94804. As has been customary for the last 10 years, the Appeal Committee will not issue an opinion and leave the decision to the Commission. It is therefore very likely that this maize will be approved for import as food and feed this year.
Meetings - Tagungen
3. BfR-Wissensdialog: Wissen und Werte – Bedeutung für Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft“
4. November 2024 um 16 Uhr im Berliner Magnus-Haus
https://www.bfr.bund.de/cm/343/welche-werte-hat-die-wissenschaft.pdf
FOOD INNOVATION FORUM 2024 (online)
The two-day congress entiteled "Towards Sustainable Food Systems" takes place from November 13 – 14, 2024 at the banquet hall of the Vetmeduni Vienna and covers the entire spectrum from agriculture to food production.
https://www.eventbrite.at/e/food-innovation-forum-2024-online-tickets-1054798112549
Save the date: Biologists @ 100 conference
24-27 March 2025; ACC Liverpool, UK
The Company of Biologists is celebrating 100 years of supporting biologists and inspiring biology
https://100yearsconference.biologists.com/
Press Releases - Media / Presse- und Medienberichte
Moens B. and Lally F.: The future EU commissioners’ promises: Everything you need to know
We pored over more than 400 pages of written answers so you don’t have to.
https://www.politico.eu/article/need-to-know-future-commissioners-promises-eu-hearing/
Bartolozzi F.: Nobel Prize winner Emmanuelle Charpentier on why biotechnology-wary Europe should embrace plant
gene editing
Pro und Contra Grüne Gentechnik: Was spricht dafür, was spricht dagegen?
Schuller J.: Pflanzenzüchter zeigen sich offen für Gentech
https://www.bauernzeitung.ch/artikel/pflanzen/pflanzenzuechter-zeigen-sich-offen-fuer-gentech-538850
Bockholt K.: EU-Patentamt in der Kritik: Patent auf kältetoleranten Mais bestätigt
Testbiotech: Ist das Wissenschaftsjournalismus?
https://www.testbiotech.org/aktuelles/ist-das-wissenschaftsjournalismus/
Only some selected press releases or media reports are listed here. The daily up-date of the press releases and
media reports are ►here: October week 43
Publications – Publikationen
Biosafe 10 Years: A Decade of Change in European Consumer Opinion
Over the past ten years, the European food landscape has been reshaped by evolving consumer attitudes toward key issues such as GMOs, alternative proteins, and animal welfare. At Biosafe, we’ve had a front-row seat to these changes, witnessing how consumer opinions have influenced not only product development but also regulatory approaches.
This article delves into the evolution of consumer attitudes in the European Union, exploring key themes like genetically modified organisms (GMOs), alternative non-animal foods, animal welfare, and the polarisation of opinion. How have consumer concerns and priorities transformed over the last decade, and what does this mean for the future of food safety and production?
https://www.biosafe.fi/insight/a-decade-of-change-in-european-consumer-opinion?_hsmi=330603092
Koller, F., Cieslak, M.,Bauer-Panskus, A. (2024): Environmental risk scenarios of specific NGT applications in Brassicaceae
oilseed plants. Environ Sci Eur 36, 189 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-024-01009-1
Background: Oilseed plants of the Brassicaceae plant family are cultivated for food, feed and industrial purposes on large-scale in Europe. This review gives an overview of current market-oriented applications of new genomic techniques (NGTs) in relevant Brassicaceae oilseed crops based on a literature survey. In this respect, changes in oil quality, yield, growth and resistance to biotic and abiotic stress are under development in oilseed rape (Brassica napus), camelina (Camelina sativa), and pennycress (Thlaspi arvense).
Main findings:Environmental risk scenarios starting with hazard identification are developed for specific NGT applications in Brassicaceae oilseed crops with either a changed oil composition or with fitness-related traits. In case of a changed oil composition, an increase or decrease of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) may lead to risks for health and survival of pollinators. Regarding fitness-related traits, other risks were identified, i.e. an increased spread and persistence of NGT plants. Furthermore, there are indications for potential disturbance of interactions with the environment, involving signalling pathways and reaction to stress conditions.
Conclusion: It is shown that for environmental risk scenarios of the technological specificities of NGTs, the plants’ biology and the scale of releases have to be considered in combination. Therefore, the release of NGT plants into the environment for agricultural purposes will, also in future, require risk assessment and monitoring of individual traits as well as of combinatorial and long-term cumulative effects. In addition, risk management should develop concepts and measures to control and potentially limit the scale of releases. This is especially relevant for NGT Brassicaceae in Europe, which is a centre of diversity of this plant family.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12302-024-01009-1
Schweiggert-Weisz U.,Etzbach L., Gola S., Kulling S. E., Diekmann C., Egert S, Daniel H. (2024): Opinion Piece: New Plant-Based
Food Products Between Technology and Physiology. Mol. Nutr. Food Res., 2400376. https://doi.org/10.1002/mnfr.202400376
The rapid growth of product sectors for plant-based meat and dairy alternatives has raised significant scientific interest in their nutritional and ecological benefits. Here, it outlines the fractionation of plant-based raw materials and describes the technologies applied in the production of meat and dairy substitutes. Moreover, the study describes the effects of these new products on human nutrient supply and metabolic responses. Examples of meat-like products produced by extrusion technology and dairy alternatives are provided, addressing production challenges and the effects of processing on nutrient digestibility and bioavailability. In contrast to animal-based products, plant-based protein ingredients can contain many compounds produced by plants for defense or symbiotic interactions, such as lectins, phytates, and a wide range of secondary metabolites. The intake of these compounds as part of a plant-based diet can influence the digestion, bioaccessibility, and bioavailability of essential nutrients such as minerals and trace elements but also of amino acids. This is a critical factor, especially in regions with limited plant species for human consumption and inadequate technologies to eliminate these compounds. To fully understand these impacts and ensure that plant-based diets meet human nutritional needs, well-controlled human studies are needed.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mnfr.202400376
Ma S, Huang X, Zhao X, Liu L, Zhang L and Gan B (2024): Current status for utilization of cold resistance genes and
strategies in wheat breeding program.Front. Genet. 15:1473717 | doi: 10.3389/fgene.2024.1473717
Low temperature chilling is one of the major abiotic stresses affecting growth and yield of Triticum aestivum L. With global climate change, the risk of cold damage in wheat production has increased. In recent years, with the extensive research on wheat chilling resistance, especially the development of genetic engineering technology, the research on wheat chilling resistance has made great progress. This paper describes the mechanism of wheat cold damage, including cell membrane injury, cytoplasmic concentration increased as well as the imbalance of the ROS system. Mechanisms of cold resistance in wheat are summarised, including hormone signalling, transcription factor regulation, and the role of protective enzymes of the ROS system in cold resistanc. Functions of cloned wheat cold resistance genes are summarised, which will provide a reference for researchers to further understand and make use of cold resistance related genes in wheat. The current cold resistant breeding of wheat relies on the agronomic traits and observable indicators, molecular methods are lacked. A strategy for wheat cold-resistant breeding based on QTLs and gene technologies is proposed, with a view to breeding more cold-resistant varieties of wheat with the deepening of the research.
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2024.1473717/full
Bánáti, D., Jevšnik, M., Nyambayo, I., Bogueva, D., Stanley, N.L. (2024): Consumer Perception of Food Safety in Europe.
In: Bogueva, D. (eds) Consumer Perceptions and Food. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-7870-6_21
Consumer knowledge of food safety in Europe plays an important role in helping to prevent food-borne disease and is one of the main pillars directly relating to the efforts made in raising societal awareness of the types of health-related food safety hazards. The number of studies investigating consumer food safety perception has increased in recent years, particularly because of recent cases of food contamination causing rising consumer concern. The first part of this chapter is about the definition of food safety and the current situation regarding food-borne diseases in Europe, with specific focus on the European Union, the European Economic Area, the Balkan region, Russia and Ukraine. The following part explores a series of food scandals which have influenced consumer perception, and is divided into European food safety incidents, global food safety incidents, and food-borne incidents originating at home. Here the authors limit themselves to selected studies regarding consumer food safety practices at home using the Slovenian population as an example. The authors emphasise the paradigm change regarding European food safety legislation (e.g. labelling), official food control, the role of the media and politicians in the perception of food safety, and European consumer views about food safety as measured through the Eurobarometer surveys. In concluding this chapter, the authors surmise their future recommendations related to important topics which have a significant impact on consumer food safety perception (legislators /policy makers, governments, industry, media, researchers, food safety educators and also consumers themselves).
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-97-7870-6_21
Borg, E., & Policante, A. (2024): The Gene Editing Business: Rent Extraction in the Biotech Industry. Review of Political
Economy, 1–36. | https://doi.org/10.1080/09538259.2024.2401480
This article analyses the mechanisms governing the extraction, circulation, and distribution of rent in the biotech industry. Building on recent scholarship, it contributes to debates surrounding the importance of rent in technoscientific capitalism. We analyse genome editing as a global labour process. Part One examines the ongoing patent battle over CRISPR-Cas9 as a struggle for control over a foundational biotechnology increasingly central to several industrial sectors: a process of enclosure that facilitates a shift towards monopoly, rent extraction, and financial speculation. Part Two then details how patented CRISPR technologies are valorised through the construction of global, multi-layered infrastructures of rent extraction based on complex webs of financial and licensing deals. Part Three maps the uneven global geographies of CRISPR patenting. It considers how monopoly power emerges through the continuous conversion of public research into private assets, and how this enclosure reinforces profoundly unequal systems of distribution of royalties and rents in the global biopolitical economy. We interrogate how CRISPR technologies cement and expand neocolonial geographies of rent extraction, privatising the economic benefits and socialising the ecological risks. Finally, we argue that an increasingly monopolistic corporate biopower mediates how genome editing technologies are developed, and which mutant ecologies are socially produced.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09538259.2024.2401480?src=#abstract
Farinati, S.; Devillars, A.;Gabelli, G.; Vannozzi, A. et al. (2024): How Helpful May Be a CRISPR/Cas-Based System for Food
Traceability? Foods 3, 3397 | https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13213397
Genome editing (GE) technologies have the potential to completely transform breeding and biotechnology applied to crop species, contributing to the advancement of modern agriculture and influencing the market structure. To date, the GE-toolboxes include several distinct platforms able to induce site-specific and predetermined genomic modifications, introducing changes within the existing genetic blueprint of an organism. For these reasons, the GE-derived approaches are considered like new plant breeding methods, known also as New Breeding Techniques (NBTs). Particularly, the GE-based on CRISPR/Cas technology represents a considerable improvement forward biotech-related techniques, being highly sensitive, precise/accurate, and straightforward for targeted gene editing in a reliable and reproducible way, with numerous applications in food-related plants. Furthermore, numerous examples of CRISPR/Cas system exploitation for non-editing purposes, ranging from cell imaging to gene expression regulation and DNA assembly, are also increasing, together with recent engagements in target and multiple chemical detection. This manuscript aims, after providing a general overview, to focus attention on the main advances of CRISPR/Cas-based systems into new frontiers of non-editing, presenting and discussing the associated implications and their relative impacts on molecular traceability, an aspect closely related to food safety, which increasingly arouses general interest within public opinion and the scientific community.
https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/13/21/3397
Crandall B. S., Harland-Dunaway M., Jinkerson R.E., Jiao F. (2024): Electro-agriculture: Revolutionizing farming for a
sustainable future. Joule | DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2024.09.011
For millennia, humanity has depended on photosynthesis to cultivate crops and feed a growing population. However, the escalating challenges of climate change and global hunger now compel us to surpass the efficiency limitations of photosynthesis. Here, we propose the adoption of an electro-agriculture (electro-ag) framework that combines CO2 electrolysis with biological systems to enhance food production efficiency. Adopting a food system based entirely on electro-ag could reduce United States agricultural land use by 88%, freeing nearly half of the country’s land for ecosystem restoration and natural carbon sequestration. Electro-ag bypasses traditional photosynthesis, enabling food cultivation in non-arable urban centers, arid deserts, and even outer space environments. We offer a new strategy that improves energy efficiency by an order of magnitude compared with photosynthesis, along with essential guidance for developing electro-ag focused on staple crops, to maximize benefits for regions facing food insecurity. This innovative approach to agriculture holds significant promise in reducing environmental impacts, streamlining supply chains, and addressing the global food crisis.
Rolletschek H., Muszynska A., Schwender J., Radchuk V. et al. (2024): Mechanical forces orchestrate the metabolism of the
developing oilseed rape embryo. New Phytologist. DOI: 10.1111/nph.19990
The initial free expansion of the embryo within a seed is at some point inhibited by its contact with the testa, resulting in its formation of folds and borders. Although less obvious, mechanical forces appear to trigger and accelerate seed maturation. However, the mechanistic basis for this effect remains unclear.
Manipulation of the mechanical constraints affecting either the in vivo or in vitro growth of oilseed rape embryos was combined with analytical approaches, including magnetic resonance imaging and computer graphic reconstruction, immunolabelling, flow cytometry, transcriptomic, proteomic, lipidomic and metabolomic profiling
Our data implied that, in vivo, the imposition of mechanical restraints impeded the expansion of testa and endosperm, resulting in the embryo's deformation. An acceleration in embryonic development was implied by the cessation of cell proliferation and the stimulation of lipid and protein storage, characteristic of embryo maturation. The underlying molecular signature included elements of cell cycle control, reactive oxygen species metabolism and transcriptional reprogramming, along with allosteric control of glycolytic flux. Constricting the space allowed for the expansion of in vitro grown embryos induced a similar response.
The conclusion is that the imposition of mechanical constraints over the growth of the developing oilseed rape embryo provides an important trigger for its maturation.
https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.19990
Sheahan M.L., Flores K., Coyne M.J,, García-Bayona L. et al. (2024): A ubiquitous mobile genetic element changes the
antagonistic weaponry of a human gut symbiont. Science 386, Issue 6720, 414-420 | DOI: 10.1126/science.adj9504
DNA transfer is ubiquitous in the human gut microbiota, especially among species of the order Bacteroidales. In silico analyses have revealed hundreds of mobile genetic elements shared between these species, yet little is known about the phenotypes they encode, their effects on fitness, or pleiotropic consequences for the recipient’s genome. In this work, we show that acquisition of a ubiquitous integrative conjugative element (ICE) encoding a type VI secretion system (T6SS) shuts down the native T6SS of Bacteroides fragilis. Despite inactivating this T6SS, ICE acquisition increases the fitness of the B. fragilis transconjugant over its progenitor by arming it with the new T6SS. DNA transfer causes the strain to change allegiances so that it no longer targets ecosystem members with the same element yet is armed for communal defense.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adj9504
EFSA
FEZ Panel (2024): Safety evaluation of an extension of use of a food enzyme containing endo-polygalacturonase, pectinesterase,
pectin lyase and non-reducing end α-l-arabinofuranosidase activities from the non-genetically modified Aspergillus niger strain PEC. EFSA Journal, 22(10), e9039. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2024.9039
https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.2903/j.efsa.2024.9039