Benefits of genome-edited crops: expert opinion

Abstract

Innovation in agriculture is pervasive. However, in spite of the success stories of twentieth century plant breeding, the twenty-first century has ushered in a set of challenges that solutions from the past century are unlikely to address. However, sustained research and the amalgamation of a number of disciplines has resulted in new breeding techniques (NBTs), such as genome editing, which offer the promise of new opportunities to resolve some of the issues. Here we present the results of an expert survey on the added potential benefits of genome-edited crops compared to those developed through genetic modification (GM) and conventional breeding. Overall, survey results reveal a consensus among experts on the enhanced agronomic performance and product quality of genome-edited crops over alternatives. The majority of experts indicated that the regulations for health and safety, followed by export markets, consumers, and the media play a major role in determining where and how NBTs, including genome editing, will be developed and used in agriculture. Further research is needed to gauge expert opinion after the Court of Justice of the European Union ruling establishing that site-specific mutagenic breeding technologies are to be regulated in the same fashion as GM crops, regardless of whether foreign DNA is present in the final variety. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s11248-019-00118-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Socioeconomic Impact of Genome Editing on Agricultural Value Chains: The Case of Fungal-Resistant and Coeliac-Safe Wheat

“…Coeliac-safe wheat mainly benefits actors by producing products that can generate a higher added-value. The findings lend empirical support to the study of Lassoued et al [14] who highlighted the potential of GE for producing crops with higher agronomic performance and product quality. In addition, the findings suggest that the use of genome-edited crops does not only provide benefits for actors in agricultural value chains.…”

“…The body of literature on the socioeconomic aspects of GE in crops is limited and mainly composed of review and opinion papers about the societal opportunities and challenges of GE [4,12,14,[37][38][39]. Some authors discussed legal [40][41][42] and ethical issues [43][44][45], while others focused on evaluating the social acceptance of GE in crops [46][47][48].…”

Shotguns vs Lasers: Identifying barriers and facilitators to scaling-up plant molecular farming for high-value health products

“…At the same time, recent advances in biotechnology are finding plant breeding applications. These are collectively known as new plant breeding techniques (NPBTs) and can be used to produce improved crop varieties that would be difficult to obtain by using traditional breeding methods or transgenic modification [16,17]. The CRISPR-Cas9 system, for example, has already been used to improve the efficacy of Nicotiana tabacum and N. benthamiana as PMF platforms [18,19], with CRISPR offering the possibility for rapid development of plant-based protein expression using generic recipient lines for desired recombinant DNA [20].…”

Development of CRISPR/Cas9 system for targeted DNA modifications and recent improvements in modification efficiency and specificity

“…Long before it became the focus of debate because of its use to generate gene-edited babies (1), scientists recognized CRISPR system as an efficient, accurate and programmable nuclease system capable to induce double strand breaks (DSBs) in various organisms, therefore with a high potential as a versatile tool for scientific studies as well as a powerful tool for medicinal and agricultural improvement. Already, there are abundant data on the potential of CRISPR system for application in crop improvement (2) as an alternative to genetically modified organisms (GMO) (3). Moreover, clinical trials to cure cancer patients by using CRISPR edited T cells are ongoing in the United States (ClinicalTrials.…”