Sunday Evening News 418- Week 12 - 2025
Weekly report on genetic engineering, genome editing, biotechnology and legal regulation.
March 2025-03-17 - March 2025-03-23
Public consultations on GMO authorisation applications: Maize DAS1131
Scientific Opinion on the assessment of genetically modified maize DAS1131, for food and feed uses, under Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 (application GMFF-2021-1530)
https://food.ec.europa.eu/plants/genetically-modified-organisms/public-consultations_en
Meetings – Conferences / Treffen - Veranstaltungen
VBIO Online-Webinarreihe: „CRISPR/Cas für eine nachhaltige Zukunft der Landwirtschaft“
Die Online-Webinarreihe „Faszination Biologie“ des VBIO wird am 25.03.2025 von 17.00 bis 19.00 Uhr mit dem Thema: „CRISPR/Cas für eine nachhaltige Zukunft der Landwirtschaft“ fortgeführt
FAO Global Agrifood Biotechnologies Conference
Biotechnologies for a Sustainable Future: Driving Agrifood Systems Transformation
(Italy), 16/06/2025 - 18/06/2025
https://www.fao.org/events/detail/fao-biotech-conference-2025/en
Press Releases - Media / Presse- und Medienberichte
Miller H.I. and Hefferon K.L.: 'Organic' Agriculture: The $52 Billion Hoax
https://henrymillermd.org/28427/organic-agriculture-the-52-billion-hoax
USDA Terminates Two Longstanding Food Safety Advisory Committees
Gabrielczyk T.: US President deprioritises biotechnology
https://european-biotechnology.com/latest-news/us-president-depriorises-biotechnology/
Infodienst Gentechnik: Neue Gentechnik: Massive Kritik an der Ratsposition
https://www.keine-gentechnik.de/nachricht/neue-gentechnik-massive-kritik-an-der-ratsposition
Gentechnikentwurf: Übersteht Ratsmehrheit Trilog?
https://www.keine-gentechnik.de/nachricht/eu-staaten-trilog-ueber-gentechnikregeln-kann-beginnen
Wie geht es mit der Grünen Gentechnik weiter?
https://www.ruhrbarone.de/wie-geht-es-mit-der-gruenen-gentechnik-weiter/244335/
Testbiotech: Einsatz der Neuen Gentechnik bei landwirtschaftlich genutzten Wirbeltieren: eine kritische Bewertung
https://www.testbiotech.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/NGT-Nutztiere.pdf
Only some selected press releases or media reports are listed here. The daily up-date of the press releases
and media reports are ►here: March week 12
Publications – Publikationen
Dellino M., de Giovanni C., Miazzi M.M., Montemurro C., Nigro D. (2025): Genome Editing Technologies to Improve Health-
Related Phytocompounds in Crop. Food Frontiers | https://doi.org/10.1002/fft2.70005
Due to rapid global population growth and the resulting significant increase in food demand, the world is facing an epidemic of malnutrition. Although yield improvement remains one of the main targets of breeding programs, much attention is being paid to the nutritional aspects of crops, including nutrients and bioactive compounds that are often important for general human health and disease prevention. Phytocompounds such as allergens, antinutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, and fatty acids are among the most important classes of chemical substances that affect human health and thus contribute to the nutritional value of crops. Conventional breeding for these traits consists of laborious and time-consuming methods, but recent advances in new genome editing (GE) technologies offer a valuable, time-saving, and cost-effective alternative. The article reports on the extensive use of GE tools to modify the content of health-relevant bio-compounds and to obtain crops with higher nutritional quality.
König, H., Kolleck, A., Sauter, A. (2025): Gene Drives. Technologien zur Verbreitung genetischer Veränderungen in
Populationen. TAB-Arbeitsbericht ; 214
https://publikationen.bibliothek.kit.edu/1000179980
Kaur N, Qadir M, Francis DV, Alok A, Tiwari S., Ahmed ZFR (2025): CRISPR/Cas9: a sustainable technology to enhance climate
resilience in major Staple Crops. Front. Genome Ed. 7:1533197. | doi: 10.3389/fgeed.2025.1533197
Climate change is a global concern for agriculture, food security, and human health. It affects several crops and causes drastic losses in yield, leading to severe disturbances in the global economy, environment, and community. The consequences on important staple crops, such as rice, maize, and wheat, will worsen and create food insecurity across the globe. Although various methods of trait improvements in crops are available and are being used, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) mediated genome manipulation have opened a new avenue for functional genomics and crop improvement. This review will discuss the progression in crop improvement from conventional breeding methods to advanced genome editing techniques and how the CRISPR/Cas9 technology can be applied to enhance the tolerance of the main cereal crops (wheat, rice, and maize) against any harsh climates. CRISPR/Cas endonucleases and their derived genetic engineering tools possess high accuracy, versatile, more specific, and easy to design, leading to climate-smart or resilient crops to combat food insecurity and survive harsh environments. The CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing approach has been applied to various crops to make them climate resilient. This review, supported by a bibliometric analysis of recent literature, highlights the potential target genes/traits and addresses the significance of gene editing technologies in tackling the vulnerable effects of climate change on major staple crops staple such as wheat, rice, and maize.
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genome-editing/articles/10.3389/fgeed.2025.1533197/full
Butterfield G.L., Rohm, D., Roberts A., Nethery M.A. et al. (2025): Characterization of diverse Cas9 orthologs for genome and
epigenome editing. PNAS, 122 (11) e2417674122 | https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.241767412
CRISPR-Cas9 systems have revolutionized biotechnology, creating diverse new opportunities for biomedical research and therapeutic genome and epigenome editing. Despite the abundance of bacterial CRISPR-Cas9 systems, relatively few are effective in human cells, limiting the overall potential of CRISPR technology. To expand the CRISPR-Cas toolbox, we characterized a set of type II CRISPR-Cas9 systems from select bacterial genera and species encoding diverse Cas9s. Four systems demonstrated robust and specific gene repression in human cells when used as nuclease-null dCas9s fused with a KRAB domain and were also highly active nucleases in human cells. These systems have distinct protospacer adjacent motifs (PAMs), including AT-rich motifs and sgRNA features orthogonal to the commonly used Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9s. Additionally, we assessed gene activation when fused with the p300 catalytic domain. Notably, S. uberis Cas9 performed competitively against benchmarks with promising repression, activation, nuclease, and base editing activity. This study expands the CRISPR-Cas9 repertoire, enabling effective genome and epigenome editing for diverse applications.
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2417674122
Feng, H., Du, Q., Jiang, Y. et al. (2025): Hordeum I genome unlocks adaptive evolution and genetic potential for crop
improvement. Nat. Plants | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-01942-w
Crop wild relatives (CWRs) are invaluable for crop improvement. Among these, Hordeum I-genome species exhibit exceptional tolerance to alkali and salt stresses. Here we present a chromosome-scale genome assembly of Hordeum brevisubulatum (II, 2n = 2x =14) and genome resequencing of 38 diploid germplasms spanning 7 I-genome species. We reveal that the adaptive evolution of the H. brevisubulatum genome is shaped by structural variations, some of which may contribute to its adaptation to high alkali and salt environments. Evolutionary duplication of the stress sensor-responder module CaBP-NRT2 and the horizontally transferred fungal gene Fhb7 were identified as novel alkaline–saline tolerance mechanisms. We also demonstrate the potential of the Hordeum I genome in crop breeding through the newly synthesized hexaploid Tritordeum (AABBII) with enhanced alkaline–saline tolerance. Our study fills critical gaps in Hordeum genomics and CWR research, advancing introgression of CWR resources into current crops for sustainable agriculture.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-025-01942-w
Melise C. Lecheta NielsonC., French B.W., Nadeau E.A.W., Teets N.M. (2025): Molecular mechanisms and comparative
transcriptomics of diapause in two corn rootworm species (Diabrotica spp.). Current Research in Insect Science 7, 100104 |. DOI: 10.1016/j.cris.2024.100104
Diapause is a programmed developmental arrest that can occur at any developmental stage depending on species, but the mechanisms that underscore embryonic diapause are poorly understood. Here, we identified molecular mechanisms underscoring distinct phases of diapause in the Diabrotica spp. complex. This species complex includes economically significant agricultural pests, notably the western corn rootworm (WCR) and northern corn rootworm (NCR), which cause major losses in maize production. Rootworms undergo an obligate embryonic diapause to synchronize their life cycles with host plants, and we sequenced transcriptomes from both species at five time points (pre-diapause, diapause initiation, diapause maintenance, diapause termination, and post-diapause). Our results indicate that transcriptional regulation is dynamic during diapause. Diapause initiation involves shutdown of the cell cycle by downregulating cyclin-related genes, downregulation of aerobic metabolism, with concurrent upregulation of stress-related genes, especially heat shock proteins, the proteasome, and immune-related genes. During post-diapause development, there is a dramatic activation cellular respiration, which may be controlled by insulin signaling. Comparative transcriptomic analyses between WCR and NCR indicated that while many gene expression changes were conserved across species, overall gene expression profiles were distinct, indicating that many transcriptional changes are species-specific, despite the close phylogenetic relationship and phenotypic similarity between these species. This study sheds light on the suite of mechanisms that allow some organisms to pause the symphony of cellular events that occur during embryonic development and persist for several months as a tiny egg. Further, the mechanisms identified here may contribute to further research and pest management efforts in this economically important pest group.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666515824000349?via%3Dihub
Yoshimura, M., Ishida, T. (2024): Generation of viable hypomorphic and null mutant plants via CRISPR-Cas9 targeting
mRNA splicing sites. J Plant Res 138, 189–196 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-024-01597-2
Genetic analysis is important for modern plant molecular biology, and in this regard, the existence of specific mutants is crucial. While genome editing technologies, particularly CRISPR-Cas9, have revolutionized plant molecular biology by enabling precise gene disruption, knockout methods are ineffective for lethal genes, necessitating alternatives like gene knockdown. This study demonstrates the practical generation of a hypomorphic mutant allele, alongside severe null mutant alleles, via the targeting of mRNA splicing sites using CRISPR-Cas9. The Arabidopsis HIGH PLOIDY 2 (HPY2) encodes a yeast NSE2 ortholog, part of the conserved eukaryotic SMC5/6 complex, with SUMO E3 ligase activity essential for cell cycle progression and plant development. Loss-of-function HPY2 mutants exhibit severe dwarfism and seedling lethality, making functional analysis challenging. To overcome these limitations, we created HPY2 knockdown mutants as novel tools to investigate gene function. Of the three mutant alleles, the hpy2-cr1 and hpy2-cr2 mutants resembled the existing severe hpy2-1 allele, both harboring a single base pair insertion in one exon, causing significant root shortening and seedling lethality. In contrast, the hypomorphic mutant hpy2-cr3, which has a five bp deletion at an intron-exon junction, showed relatively longer root growth and survived until the reproductive stage. RT-PCR analysis of hpy2-cr3 revealed atypical mRNAs producing truncated polypeptides that retained some HPY2 function, explaining the milder phenotype. These results establish the successful generation of novel hypomorphic mutant alleles critical for studying the lethal gene HPY2, and demonstrate the usefulness of CRISPR-Cas9 for producing viable hypomorphic mutants for investigating complex genetic interactions.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10265-024-01597-2
Hu, M. and Liu, D. (2025): Unlocking the potential of genome editing in agriculture with tissue culture-free techniques.
New Phytol. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70046
Genome editing holds great promise for enhancing crop traits; however, progress has been slow due to inefficient delivery methods and reliance on tissue culture for regenerating edited plants, which are time-consuming and labor-intensive. To address these limitations, innovative tissue culture-free techniques have been developed, including meristem editing through biolistic-mediated delivery and RNA virus-mediated delivery. New methods for de novo gene-edited meristem induction and root suckering-based cut–dip–budding have also been established. While these approaches show promise, each faces challenges that must be addressed for practical application in crop improvement. We discuss the transformative potential of these techniques for crop improvement and emphasize the need for ongoing research to refine them and maximize their agricultural impact.
https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.70046
Liu, J., Zhang, J., Zhao, T. et al. (2025): SunTag-PE: a modular prime editing system enables versatile and efficient genome
editing. Commun Biol 8, 452 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07893-4
Prime editing (PE) holds tremendous potential in the treatment of genetic diseases because it can install any desired base substitution or local insertion/deletion. However, the full-length PE effector size (6.3-kb) is beyond the packaging capacity of adeno-associated virus (AAV), hindering its clinical translation. Various splitting strategies have been used to improve its delivery, but always accompanied by compromised PE efficiency. Here, we developed a modular and efficient SunTag-PE system that splits PE effectors into GCN4-nCas9 and single-chain variable fragment (scFv) tethered reverse transcriptase (RT). We observed that SunTag-PEs with 1×GCN4 in the N terminus of nCas9 was the most efficient configuration rather than multiple copies of GCN4. This SunTag-PE strategy achieved editing levels comparable to canonical fused-PE (nCas9 and RT are linked together) and higher than other split-PE strategies (including sPE and MS2-PE) in both PE2 and PE3 forms with no increase in insertion and deletion (indel) byproducts. Moreover, we successfully validated the modularity of SunTag-PE system in the Cas9 orthologs of SauCas9 and FrCas9. Finally, we employed dual AAVs to deliver SunTag-ePE3 and efficiently corrected the pathogenic mutation in HBB mutant cell line. Collectively, our SunTag-PE system provides an efficient modular splitting strategy for prime editing and further facilitate its transformation in clinics.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-025-07893-4
Benoit, M., Jenike, K.M., Satterlee, J.W. et al. (2025): Solanum pan-genetics reveals paralogues as contingencies in crop
engineering. Nature | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08619-6
Pan-genomics and genome-editing technologies are revolutionizing breeding of global crops1,2. A transformative opportunity lies in exchanging genotype-to-phenotype knowledge between major crops (that is, those cultivated globally) and indigenous crops (that is, those locally cultivated within a circumscribed area)3,4,5 to enhance our food system. However, species-specific genetic variants and their interactions with desirable natural or engineered mutations pose barriers to achieving predictable phenotypic effects, even between related crops6,7. Here, by establishing a pan-genome of the crop-rich genus Solanum8 and integrating functional genomics and pan-genetics, we show that gene duplication and subsequent paralogue diversification are major obstacles to genotype-to-phenotype predictability. Despite broad conservation of gene macrosynteny among chromosome-scale references for 22 species, including 13 indigenous crops, thousands of gene duplications, particularly within key domestication gene families, exhibited dynamic trajectories in sequence, expression and function. By augmenting our pan-genome with African eggplant cultivars9 and applying quantitative genetics and genome editing, we dissected an intricate history of paralogue evolution affecting fruit size. The loss of a redundant paralogue of the classical fruit size regulator CLAVATA3 (CLV3)10,11 was compensated by a lineage-specific tandem duplication. Subsequent pseudogenization of the derived copy, followed by a large cultivar-specific deletion, created a single fused CLV3 allele that modulates fruit organ number alongside an enzymatic gene controlling the same trait. Our findings demonstrate that paralogue diversifications over short timescales are underexplored contingencies in trait evolvability. Exposing and navigating these contingencies is crucial for translating genotype-to-phenotype relationships across species.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08619-6
Wang F.Z., Niyogi K.K. (2025): Towards targeted engineering of promoters via deletion of repressive cis-regulatory
elements. New Phytologist 245: 1805–1807
https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/nph.20280
Cook, N.M., Gobbato, G., Jacott, C.N. et al. (2025): Autoactive CNGC15 enhances root endosymbiosis in legume and wheat.
Nature 638, 752–759 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08424-7
Nutrient acquisition is crucial for sustaining life. Plants develop beneficial intracellular partnerships with arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) and nitrogen-fixing bacteria to surmount the scarcity of soil nutrients and tap into atmospheric dinitrogen, respectively1,2. Initiation of these root endosymbioses requires symbiont-induced oscillations in nuclear calcium (Ca2+) concentrations in root cells3. How the nuclear-localized ion channels, cyclic nucleotide-gated channel (CNGC) 15 and DOESN’T MAKE INFECTIONS1 (DMI1)4 are coordinated to specify symbiotic-induced nuclear Ca2+ oscillations remains unknown. Here we discovered an autoactive CNGC15 mutant that generates spontaneous low-frequency Ca2+ oscillations. While CNGC15 produces nuclear Ca2+ oscillations via a gating mechanism involving its helix 1, DMI1 acts as a pacemaker to specify the frequency of the oscillations. We demonstrate that the specificity of symbiotic-induced nuclear Ca2+ oscillations is encoded in its frequency. A high frequency activates endosymbiosis programmes, whereas a low frequency modulates phenylpropanoid pathways. Consequently, the autoactive cngc15 mutant, which is capable of generating both frequencies, has increased flavonoids that enhance AM, root nodule symbiosis and nutrient acquisition. We transferred this trait to wheat, resulting in field-grown wheat with increased AM colonization and nutrient acquisition. Our findings reveal a new strategy to boost endosymbiosis in the field and reduce inorganic fertilizer use while sustaining plant growth.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08424-7
Chen J., Chen G., Guo J., He Y. et al. (2025): The CsTIE1–CsAGL16 module regulates lateral branch outgrowth and drought
tolerance in cucumber. Horticulture Research, 2025, 12: uhae279 | https://doi.org/10.1093/hr/uhae279
Drought stress and lateral branches are both important factors affecting crop yield. Cucumber is a widely planted vegetable crop that requires a large amount of water during its production and varieties with few lateral branches are preferred. However, the mechanisms regulating cucumber drought tolerance and lateral branch development remain largely unclear. The MADS-box transcription factor AGAMOUS-LIKE 16 (CsAGL16) was recently found to be a key positive regulator in cucumber shoot branching acting by stimulating abscisic acid (ABA) catabolism. In this study, we demonstrated that cucumber TCP interactor containing EAR motif protein 1 (CsTIE1) directly interacts with CsAGL16 at protein level and promotes lateral branch outgrowth through the CsAGL16–CsCYP707A4 mediated ABA pathway in cucumber. Additionally, mutation of CsAGL16 resulted in decreased drought tolerance, while overexpression of CsAGL16 significantly enhanced drought tolerance in cucumber. Similarly, the drought resistance of Cstie1 mutants was significantly reduced. However, overexpression of CsAGL16 can enhance the drought tolerance of Cstie1 mutants and promote their lateral branch outgrowth. These results indicated that the CsTIE1–CsAGL16 module was crucial for both lateral branch development and drought response, providing a strategy for cultivating drought-tolerant cucumber varieties with appropriate branch outgrowth.
https://academic.oup.com/hr/article/12/1/uhae279/7804683
Baldos U.L.C., Alfredo Cisneros-Pineda A., Fuglie K.O., Hertel T.W. (2025): Adoption of improved crop varieties limited
biodiversity losses, terrestrial carbon emissions, and cropland expansion in the tropics. PNAS 122 (6) e2404839122 |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2404839122
Research investments in crop improvements, including by national and international agricultural research centers, have made significant contributions to raising yields of staple food crops in developing countries. Although mostly intended to improve food security and rural incomes, innovations in crop production also have major implications for the environment. Building on the latest productivity estimates from historical crop improvements in developing countries and using a gridded (0.25 degrees) equilibrium model of global agriculture, we assess the impacts of improved crop varieties on cropland use, threatened biodiversity, and terrestrial carbon stocks over 1961–2015. We replicate a historical baseline and produce a counterfactual scenario which shows the impact of omitting productivity improvements from these technologies. The results show that higher crop productivity generally lowered commodity prices, which reduced incentives to expand cropland except in those areas where productivity gains outweighed price declines. The net global effect of technology adoption was to limit conversion of natural habitat to agricultural use, although it did cause cropland to expand in some areas. We estimate that adoption of improved crop varieties in developing countries saved on net 16.03 [95% CI, 12.33 to 20.89] million hectares worldwide. With more natural habitat preserved, around 1,043 [95% CI, 616 to 1,503] threatened animal and plant species extinctions were avoided over this period. In addition, net land use savings from the improved crop varieties resulted in avoided terrestrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of around 5.35 [95% CI, 3.75 to 7.22] billion metric tons CO2 equivalent retained in terrestrial carbon stocks.
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2404839122
EFSA
Barro, F., Braeuning, A., Goumperis, T., Lewandowska, A., Moxon, S., Papadopoulou, N., & Sánchez-Brunete, E. (2025). Risk
assessment considerations for RNAi-based genetically modified plants. EFSA Journal, 23(3), e9321. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2025.9321
https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.2903/j.efsa.2025.9321
GMO Panel (2025). Assessment of genetically modified maize DAS1131 (application GMFF-2021-1530). EFSA Journal, 23(3), e9282.
https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2025.9282
https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.2903/j.efsa.2025.9282
FEZ Panel (2025). Safety evaluation of the food enzyme endo-1,4-β-xylanase from the genetically modified Bacillus subtilis strain
DP-Ezd119. EFSA Journal, 23(3), e9289. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2025.9289
https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.2903/j.efsa.2025.9289