Sunday Evening News 419- Week 13 - 2025
Weekly report on genetic engineering, genome editing, biotechnology and legal regulation.
March 2025-03-24 - March 2025-03-30
BfR-Kommissionen werden neu besetzt
https://www.bfr.bund.de/de/presseinformation/2025/2/bfr_kommissionen_werden_neu_besetzt-318411.html
Koalitionsverhandlungen CDU/CSU/SPD
AG 11 - Ländliche Räume, Landwirtschaft, Ernährung und Umwelt
AG 8 - Bildung, Forschung und Innovation
Rat der EU: Neue genomische Techniken für die Pflanzenzüchtung
Neue Methoden in der Pflanzenzucht können die Ernährungssicherheit verbessern und die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels abmildern. Um von diesen Methoden zu profitieren, ihre sichere Nutzung zu gewährleisten und Innovationen anzukurbeln, führt die EU neue Vorschriften ein.
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/de/policies/new-genomic-techniques-for-plant-breeding/
European Council: New genomic techniques for plant breeding
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/new-genomic-techniques-for-plant-breeding/
Meetings – Conferences / Treffen - Veranstaltungen
Online-Diskussion: NGTs – Was steht bei der Kennzeichnung und Rückverfolgbarkeit auf dem Spiel?
8. April 2025, 12:30 – 14:00 Uhr
Doudna J. "Genome Editing the Future: Transforming Human and Planet Health with CRISPR"
5. Mai 2025, 17:30 Uhr; Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Festsaal Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2, 1010 Wien
Anmeldung erforderlich: https://form.typeform.com/to/OdloqZdm
EU-Commission: Shaping the future of farming and the agri-food sector
Thursday 8 May 2025, 09:30 - 17:30 (CEST), Brussels, Belgium
Press Releases - Media / Presse- und Medienberichte
Leopoldina: Deutschland braucht ein starkes Ministerium für Forschung, Technologie und Innovation
https://www.leopoldina.org/presse-1/pressemitteilungen/pressemitteilung/press/3125/
Positionspapier: https://forschungsgipfel.de/sites/fg/files/2025-03/deutschland_braucht_eine_starke_und_mutige_innovationspolitik.pdf
HRK: Gemeinsame Erklärung „Innovation braucht Infrastruktur“
Doering K.: Koalitionsverhandlungen: Wo sich Union und SPD noch uneinig sind
https://www.vorwaerts.de/inland/koalitionsverhandlungen-wo-sich-union-und-spd-noch-uneinig-sind
Informationsdienst Gentechnik: Italien: Klage gegen Feldversuche
https://www.keine-gentechnik.de/nachricht/italien-klage-gegen-feldversuche
Hefferon K.L., Miller H.I.: RNAi Technology Shows Promise in Combating Deadly Honeybee Pest
https://henrymillermd.org/28434/rnai-technology-shows-promise-in-combating-deadly
CPVO: Embracing New Genomic Techniques (NGTs): European Parliament's Progressive Vote
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 13
Publications – Publikationen
Aerni P. (2025): Innovation in times of crisis: a pragmatic and inclusive approach to cope with urgent global
sustainability challenges. Front. Environ. Econ. Sec. Agricultural Economics Volume 4 | https://doi.org/10.3389/frevc.2025.1498138
The term “polycrisis” has become a buzzword to describe the entanglement and reinforcement of multiple global crises that may put the survival of humankind at risk. It builds upon Sustainability Science and its research on the complex interactions of systemic risks. The research approach has its roots in the “Limits to Growth” report published by the Club of Rome in 1972. The publication predicted a global sustainability crisis in response to growing human resource consumption. The threat is real, but there are lessons to be learned from coping with past global crises and how they were addressed by far-sighted government initiatives that incentivized decentralized innovation systems to achieve well-defined objectives. These initiatives proved to be effective because they were based on an adequate understanding of the endogenous nature of economic development and how biocapacity and societal resilience can be enhanced through higher levels of economic complexity. Contemporary European mission-oriented innovation policies (MOIPs) with their strong faith in the state as pacesetter of the economy lack this understanding. In this paper, a more pragmatic innovation policy approach is proposed to accelerate progress on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) in general, and food security in particular. It combines the target orientation of past US innovation policy missions with the commitment of international crop research networks to mobilize innovation and entrepreneurship for inclusive development. Throughout history, such opportunity-driven approaches proved to be more effective public policy responses to crisis than attempts to minimize systemic risks by limiting growth.
Zheng S., Shao M., Wang W.,Chen G.-Q. (2025): Next-generation biotechnology inspired by extremes.
EMBO reports 26 1191 – 1195 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44319-025-00389-6
The potential of extremophile organisms for synthetic biology and for more efficient and sustainable biotechnology
https://www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.1038/s44319-025-00389-6
FAO: The Third Report on The State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
https://openknowledge.fao.org/items/f2430a27-86cb-46b0-b9ee-d3c567f5587f
The report: https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/1e433690-e888-474b-b90c-29b6763475a4/content
Tardin-Coelho, R., Fletcher, S., Manzie, N. et al. (2025): A systematic review on public perceptions of RNAi-based
biopesticides: Developing Social Licence to Operate. npj Sustain. Agric. 3, 15 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44264-025-00057-1
Agriculture is fundamental to ensuring humanity’s food and fibre security. Synthetic pesticides pose challenges due to resistance, emissions, toxicity, and harm to beneficial organisms. A novel approach involves RNA-based biopesticides, eliciting an RNA interference (RNAi) response via topical application of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), avoiding genetic modification. However, potential issues surrounding RNAi, including policy controversies and regulatory gaps, may affect public perception and acceptance of topical RNAi, impacting the acquisition of a social licence to operate (SLO). This qualitative systematic literature review examines public perceptions of RNAi-based biopesticides, the associated policy considerations and their implications for developing an SLO. The results show that factors influencing public perceptions and SLO emphasise human and environmental safety and costs, including also off-target impacts, degradability, protection window, resistance, toxicity, and ethical and cultural considerations. Finally, we discuss strategies from social science literature for RNAi-biopesticides to achieve an SLO towards sustainability, enhancing food safety and productivity.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s44264-025-00057-1
Vollen, K., Alonso, J.M. and Stepanova, A.N. (2025): Beyond a few bases: methods for large DNA insertion and gene
targeting in plants. Plant J, 121: e70099 | https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.70099
Genome editing technologies like CRISPR/Cas have greatly accelerated the pace of both fundamental research and translational applications in agriculture. However, many plant biologists are functionally limited to creating small, targeted DNA changes or large, random DNA insertions. The ability to efficiently generate large, yet precise, DNA changes will massively accelerate crop breeding cycles, enabling researchers to more efficiently engineer crops amidst a rapidly changing agricultural landscape. This review provides an overview of existing technologies that allow plant biologists to integrate large DNA sequences within a plant host and some associated technical bottlenecks. Additionally, this review explores a selection of emerging techniques in other host systems to inspire tool development in plants.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tpj.70099?af=R
Zhang, X., Li, M., Chen, K. et al. (2025): Engineered circular guide RNAs enhance miniature CRISPR/Cas12f-based gene
activation and adenine base editing. Nat Commun 16, 3016 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58367-4
CRISPR system has been widely used due to its precision and versatility in gene editing. Un1Cas12f1 from uncultured archaeon (hereafter referred to as Cas12f), known for its compact size (529 aa), exhibits obvious delivery advantage for gene editing in vitro and in vivo. However, its activity remains suboptimal. In this study, we engineer circular guide RNA (cgRNA) for Cas12f and significantly improve the efficiency of gene activation about 1.9–19.2-fold. When combined with a phase separation system, the activation efficiency is further increased about 2.3–3.9-fold. In addition, cgRNA enhances the editing efficiency and narrows the editing window of adenine base editing about 1.2–2.5-fold. Importantly, this optimization strategy also boosts the Cas12f-induced gene activation efficiency in mouse liver. Therefore, we demonstrate that cgRNA is able to enhance Cas12f-based gene activation and adenine base editing, which holds great potential for gene therapy.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-58367-4
Grewal, S., Yang, Cy., Krasheninnikova, K. et al. (2025): Chromosome-level haplotype-resolved genome assembly of bread
wheat’s wild relative Aegilops mutica. Sci Data 12, 438 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-04737-y
Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) is a vital staple crop, with an urgent need for increased production to help feed the world’s growing population. Aegilops mutica (2n = 2x = 14; T genome) is a diploid wild relative of wheat carrying valuable agronomic traits resulting in its extensive exploitation for wheat improvement. This paper reports a chromosome-scale, haplotype-resolved genome assembly of Ae. mutica using HiFi reads and Omni-C data. The final lengths for the curated genomes were ~4.65 Gb (haplotype 1) and 4.56 Gb (haplotype 2), featuring a contig N50 of ~4.35 Mb and ~4.60 Mb, respectively. Genome annotation predicted 96,723 gene models and repeats. In summary, the genome assembly of Ae. mutica provides a valuable resource for the wheat breeding community, facilitating faster and more efficient pre-breeding of wheat to enhance food security.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-025-04737-y
Goritschnig, S., Weise, S., Guzzon, F., Maggioni, L., van Hintum, T., Steffensen, L. L., Stein, N. and Giuliano, G. (2025):
Strengthening European research cooperation on plant genetic resources conservation and use. Genetic Resources, (S2), 119–134. | doi: 10.46265/genresj.LUZJ7324
Plant genetic resources (PGR) are a vital research infrastructure and an important asset to increase the resiliency of agri-food systems, conserve agrobiodiversity and mitigate the effects of climate change. In the current scenarios of climate change and biodiversity loss, it becomes increasingly urgent to ensure the conservation of existing crop diversity and assure its availability for research and breeding to enable the development of new, adapted crops. Throughout Europe, more than 400 collections conserve PGR of over 6,500 genera, with over 2 million accessions documented in the European Search Catalogue for Plant Genetic Resources (EURISCO). To make these resources available to breeders, more research investment in these collections is needed. Here, we analyze the participation of European genebanks in collaborative projects within the EU Horizon scheme as an indicator for the use of PGR collections in research. We highlight two Horizon projects, AGENT and G2P-SOL, and the ECPGR initiative European Evaluation Network (EVA), which have brought together genebanks and other stakeholders to create tools and knowledge on PGR. Their experience could be translated into a dedicated, large European research infrastructure for PGR (GRACE-RI), suggested in the Plant Genetic Resources Strategy for Europe and currently in the concept phase by the Horizon Europe project PRO-GRACE. GRACE-RI will connect European research institutes involved in PGR conservation and research and will be key to ensuring access to well-documented and maintained PGR and methods for their characterization and utilization, preventing further loss of plant biodiversity which is increasingly threatening European agriculture and natural landscapes.
https://www.genresj.org/index.php/grj/article/view/genresj.LUZJ7324
Chen, H., Chen, J., Zhai, R. et al. (2025): Dissecting the genetic architecture of key agronomic traits in lettuce using a
MAGIC population. Genome Biol 26, 67 | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-025-03541-6
Background: Lettuce is a globally important leafy vegetable that exhibits diverse horticultural types and strong population structure, which complicates genetic analyses. To address this challenge, we develop the first multi-parent, advanced generation inter-cross (MAGIC) population for lettuce using 16 diverse founder lines.
Results: Whole-genome sequencing of the 16 founder lines and 381 inbred progeny reveal minimal population structure, enabling informative genome-wide association studies (GWAS). GWAS of the lettuce MAGIC population identifies numerous loci associated with key agricultural traits, including 51 for flowering time, 11 for leaf color, and 5 for leaf shape. Notably, loss-of-function mutations in the LsphyB and LsphyC genes, encoding phytochromes B and C, dramatically delay flowering in lettuce, which is in striking contrast to many other plant species. This unexpected finding highlights the unique genetic architecture controlling flowering time in lettuce. The wild-type LsTCP4 gene plays critical roles in leaf flatness and its expression level is negatively correlated with leaf curvature. Additionally, a novel zinc finger protein (ZFP) gene is required for the development of lobed leaves; a point mutation leads to its loss of function and consequently converted lobed leaves to non-lobed leaves, as exhibited by most lettuce cultivars.
Conclusions: The MAGIC population’s lack of structure and high mapping resolution enables the efficient dissection of complex traits. The identified loci and candidate genes provide significant genetic resources for improving agronomic performance and leaf quality in lettuce.
https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-025-03541-6
Tripathi, J.N., Tripathi, L. (2025): Agrobacterium tumefaciens–Mediated Genome Editing in Banana. In: Stange Klein, C.
(eds) Agrobacterium. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2911. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-4450-8_14
This protocol outlines the Agrobacterium tumefaciens–mediated transformation process for genome editing in banana (Musa spp.). As a crop of significant agricultural and economic importance globally, improving banana cultivars is crucial for addressing challenges such as disease resistance, climate resilience and yield enhancement. The procedure presented here involves the establishment of embryogenic cell suspensions (ECSs) from immature male flowers, followed by co-cultivation with Agrobacterium containing the desired gene construct. Key steps include callus induction, ECS generation and maintenance, transformation using plasmid construct containing genome editing reagents such as CRISPR/Cas9, and regeneration. The method ensures the editing of target genes in the banana genome, facilitating genetic improvements.
https://link.springer.com/protocol/10.1007/978-1-0716-4450-8_14
Reinhardt T.: Monaco A.: (2025): How innovation-friendly is the EU novel food regulation? The case of cellular agriculture.
Future Foods 11, 100574
The Novel Food Regulation provides the central legal framework for regulating food innovation in the European Union (EU). Its suitability for transformative innovation, such as cellular agriculture, has recently come under intense political and scientific scrutiny. This paper systematically analyzes how the Novel Food Regulation affects the development of cellular agriculture in the EU. It employs an original analytical framework that captures its influence on the functionality of the innovation system as well as the potential for “legal disruption” caused by technological development. It triangulates a detailed legal analysis with empirical data, collected through EFSA's stakeholder consultations, expert interviews, as well as an original stakeholder survey. Results show mixed effects of the regulation on the innovation system for cellular agriculture: whilst the transparent and robust procedures by EFSA contribute to knowledge diffusion and legitimation, the complex authorization process hampers entrepreneurial experimentation, resource mobilization and market formation. The regulation's narrow focus on food safety and the potential for political interference in the authorization process create a risk for legal disruption. We argue that the creation of well-designed “regulatory sandboxes” could facilitate the identification of solutions that actually contribute to food system sustainability and innovation, without compromising food safety.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666833525000371?via%3Dihub
EFSA
FEZ Panel (2025): Safety evaluation of an extension of use of the food enzyme endo-1,4-β-xylanase from the genetically modified
Aspergillus niger strain XEA. EFSA Journal, 23(3), e9328. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2025.9328
https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.2903/j.efsa.2025.9328
EFSA CONSOLIDATED ANNUAL ACTIVITY REPORT 2024