Sunday Evening News 443 - Week 39 - 2025
Weekly report on genetic engineering, genome editing, biotechnology and legal regulation.
September 2025-09-22 - September 2025-09-28
Meetings – Conferences / Treffen - Veranstaltungen
Engagement in Governance: Emerging Environmental Biotechnologies and Responsible Innovation
September 30, 2025 @ 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm (Zoom)
DLG: Inhouse Farming; Hamburg, 30.09. -01.10.2025
https://www.inhouse-farming.com/de/feed-food-convention
SEC: Pflanzenschutz – Ja, aber wie? 13. 11.2025, 13:00 – 18:00 Uhr, Frankfurt/Main
https://www.wggev.de/sec-symposium-2025-pflanzenschutz/
Anuga – Köln, 04. – 08.10.2025
https://www.anuga.de/die-messe/anuga/
Z-Forum on Sustainability and Innovation 15–16 January 2026, Zürich, Switzerland
https://sciforum.net/event/ZForum-1
BVL: Modern Molecular Methods in Biotechnology Perspectives for Research and Applications
BVL expert forum — 24-25 February 2026 (lunch to lunch),Hotel Estrel Congress Center, Sonnenallee 225, 12057 Berlin
https://www.bvl.bund.de/EN/Service/03_Events/Perspectives-Biotechnology-2026/_node.html
Press Releases - Media / Presse- und Medienberichte
Commission authorises use of safe genetically modified maize as food and animal feed
On September 22, 2025, the Commission approved genetically modified corn DP 51291
https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/sante/newsletter-archives/67088
more information: https://www.biotech-gm-food.com/gv-mais-dp-51291
EFSA: 2025 Eurobarometer on Food Safety in the EU
https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/corporate/pub/eurobarometer25
https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/infographics/2025-eurobarometer-food-safety-eu-infographic
Observer Research Foundation / Ramakrishnan L.: Resilient Harvests: The Promise And Debate Around India’s Gene-Edited
Rice – Analysis
Ramakrishnan L.: Resilient Harvests: The Promise and Debate Around India’s Gene-Edited Rice
DARWIN project policy brief highlights feasibility and importance of detecting NGTs in food and feed
Patented and unlabeled GM crops: Dutch Government lobbying to scrap biotech rules
FEI-Jahresreport 2024/2025
https://www.fei-bonn.de/mediathek/print/jahresreport/jahresreport-2024-2025
Only some selected press releases or media reports are listed here. The daily up-date of the press releases and
media reports are ►here: September week 39
Publications – Publikationen
FAO: Food safety foresight: approaches to identify future food safety issues
https://openknowledge.fao.org/items/7961a82f-d66e-4e54-b97d-4d11e85a399e
Ishii T. (2025): Consumer choices regarding genome-edited food crops: lessons from Japan. Front. Genome Ed., Sec.
Genome Editing in Plants Volume 7 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fgeed.2025.1672358
Japan has rapidly deregulated certain types of agricultural genome editing, yet the societal integration of these products warrants further investigation. This paper analyzed the sale and people’s perception of genome-edited food crops in Japan after reviewing the regulatory framework. Of four genome-edited crops approved as non-genetically modified organism, only one is sold online to consumers who credit safety information and perceive usefulness. Some consumers express deep safety concern, advocating mandatory labeling. The majority of people are not sufficiently aware of genome editing. To enhance informed consumer choices of genome-edited food crops, it is crucial to share visions in society, hold risk communication for mutual understanding, and maintain clear labels, including organic food.
Domingo, J.L. (2025): Genetically Modified Crops: Balancing Safety, Sustainability, and Global Security, Environmental
Research, 122892 | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2025.122892.
The present review examines the safety assessment of genetically modified (GM) crops through analysis of regulatory frameworks, health and environmental impacts, technological advances, and public perception. It is based on peer-reviewed studies published between 2016 and June 2025. The review reveals significant global variability in regulatory approaches. The European Union implements stringent process-based systems that limit innovation. The USA employs product-based frameworks that facilitate adoption. Extensive empirical evidence consistently supports the safety of approved GM crops for human health and environmental protection. However, notable gaps remain in long-term ecological monitoring and cumulative assessment. Technological advances, particularly genome editing technologies such as CRISPR-Cas9, offer enhanced precision and efficiency. These technologies face considerable regulatory uncertainty across jurisdictions. Public acceptance demonstrates marked regional variations. These variations are influenced by risk perception levels, trust in regulatory authorities, and cultural factors. Transparent science-based communication is identified as critical for improving societal engagement. Reviews of GM crop status highlight the rapid global expansion of approved traits and cultivation areas. They emphasize consistent safety profiles across diverse agricultural systems and regulatory frameworks. Current assessments indicate that GM crops represent mature biotechnology with substantial potential for addressing future food security challenges. This potential comes through enhanced productivity, stress tolerance, and nutritional improvement. Regulatory disparities create significant trade constraints that disproportionately impact developing nations. These constraints have substantial economic implications for global agricultural markets. However, there is an urgent need for harmonized science-based regulations, enhanced methodologies for long-term risk assessment, and inclusive governance models. These models must effectively reconcile innovation imperatives with safety requirements and public trust considerations.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935125021449?via%3Dihub
Bradbury A., Clapp O., Biacsi A,-S. et al. (2025): Integrating genome editing with omics, artificial intelligence, and advanced
farming technologies to increase crop productivity. Plant Communication 6 (7), 101386|https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xplc.2025.101386
Celebrated for boosting agricultural productivity and enhancing food security worldwide, the Green Revolution comprised some of the most significant advances in crop production in the 20th century. However, many recent studies have reported crop yield stagnation in certain regions of the world, raising concerns that yield gains are no longer sufficient to feed the exponentially growing global population. Here, we review the current challenges facing global crop production and discuss the potential of genome editing technologies to overcome yield stagnation, along with current legislative barriers that limit their application. We assess strategies for the integration of genome editing with omics, artificial intelligence, robotics, and advanced farming technologies to improve crop performance. To achieve real-world yield improvements, agricultural practices must also evolve. We discuss how precision farming approaches—including satellite technology, AI-driven decision support, and real-time monitoring—can support climate-resilient and sustainable agriculture. Going forward, it will be essential to address issues throughout the agricultural pipeline to fully integrate rapidly developing genome editing methods with other advanced technologies, enabling the industry to keep up with environmental changes and ensure future food security.
Simoni S, Fambrini M, Pugliesi C, Rogo U. (2025): Genome Editing by Grafting. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 26
(19):9294. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26199294
Grafting is the process of joining parts of two plants, allowing the exchange of molecules such as small RNAs (including microRNAs and small interfering RNAs), messenger RNAs, and proteins between the rootstock and the scion. Genome editing by grafting exploits RNAs, such as tRNA-like sequences (TLS motifs), to deliver the components (RNA) of the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated protein 9 (Cas9) system from transgenic rootstock to wild-type scion. The complex Cas9 protein and sgRNA-TLS produced in the scion perform the desired modification without the integration of foreign DNA in the plant genome, resulting in heritable transgene-free genome editing. In this review, we examine the current state of the art of this innovation and how it helps address regulatory problems, improves crop recovery and selection, exceeds the usage of viral vectors, and may reduce potential off-target effects. We also discuss the promise of genome editing by grafting for plants recalcitrant to in vitro culture and for agamic-propagated species that must maintain heterozygosity for plant productivity, fruit quality, and adaptation. Furthermore, we explore the limitations of this technique, including variable efficiency, graft incompatibility among genotypes, and challenges in large-scale application, while highlighting its considerable potential for further improvement and future broader applications for crop breeding.
https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/26/19/9294
Slewinski T.L., Turner-Hissong S., Paciorek T., Brower-Toland B., Shyu, (2025): Beautiful and delicious mutants: The origins,
fates, and benefits of molecular sequence variation in plant evolution and breeding, Plant Physiology, 199 (1), kiaf378 | https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiaf378
Heritable sequence changes conferred by mutations have historically been, and continue to be, a valuable source of genetic variation in plant breeding to deliver vegetables, fruits, flowers, and grains with improved quality, diversity, and performance. Genetic diversity in domesticated crops is not entirely preexisting or fixed. This diversity depends on the progression of breeding tools and methodologies that deliver mutations to the enterprise of plant improvement. While breeding has been part of human history for thousands of years, DNA was not recognized as the molecular basis of inheritance until the 1940s. Even more recently, sequencing technologies have allowed us to reveal the allelic variation responsible for naturally occurring phenotypic characteristics that were advanced by evolution and selective breeding. Here, we summarize specific examples of sequence variation that illustrate the extent and impact of plant mutation for agriculture and the essential value of mutational tools to generate additional useful genetic variation. Over time, these tools have been successfully deployed in plant breeding and have been accepted as a means to produce beneficial variation in crops without compromising safety. We then describe the potential utility of genome editing as a versatile technology to introduce beneficial mutations and to enable plant breeding. Compared with other sources of mutation, genome editing satisfies the same safety requirements while also offering technological advancements to improve the performance and quality of crops that our society depends upon.
https://academic.oup.com/plphys/article/199/1/kiaf378/8242848
Sood, A., Sharma, P., Sharma, A. et al. (2025): Genome editing in vegetable crops: a new era of sustainable agriculture.
Mol Biol Rep 52, 944 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-025-11063-4
The growing population, climate change and limited natural resources pose significant challenges to food and nutritional security. Vegetable crops are essential in achieving food security but face challenges from biotic and abiotic stresses. Improving vegetable varieties for environmental stress tolerance, especially with multiple resistance traits is a critical priority. Although, traditional breeding methods are valuable, they are often slow and require long breeding cycles to introduce desirable traits. Genome editing provides a precise and efficient method for crop improvement offering precise, efficient and targeted modifications. Technologies such as meganucleases (MegaN), zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) and CRISPR-Cas9 system enable targeted modifications to improve stress tolerance, quality traits and resistance to pests and diseases in various vegetable crops. Recent advancements in base and prime editing techniques further expand the potential of precision breeding by allowing single nucleotide changes without inducing double stranded breaks (DSBs) or inserting foreign DNA. Additionally, multiplex and epigenome editing in vegetable crops allow simultaneous modification of multiple genes and epigenetic traits. Notable applications of genome editing include lycopene content and parthenocarpy enhancement in tomato, starch quality, enzymatic browning and glycoalkaloid reduction in potato, browning resistance in brinjal, increased anthocyanin content in carrot, gynoecy and parthenocarpy in cucumber, herbicide tolerance in watermelon, salt tolerance in pumpkin etc. Thus, this review summarizes the evolution, mechanisms and applications of genome editing in various vegetables with emphasis on recent advances and their potential contribution to crop improvement.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11033-025-11063-4
Guiltinan, M. J., L. Landherr, S. N. Maximova, D. DelVecchio, A. Sebastian, and I. Albert. (2025): Reduced Susceptibility to
Phytophthora in Non-Transgenic Cacao Progeny Through CRISPR–Cas9 Mediated TcNPR3 Mutagenesis. Plant Biotechnology Journal | https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.70365.
Black pod disease, caused by a complex of Phytophthora species, poses a severe threat to global cacao production. This study explores the use of CRISPR–Cas9 genome editing to reduce disease susceptibility in Theobroma cacao L. by targeting the TcNPR3 gene, a known negative regulator of plant defence. Transgenic T0 lines carrying mutations predicted to disrupt TcNPR3 function exhibited reduced susceptibility to Phytophthora infection in in vitro foliar assays. These T0 plants were advanced to maturity and outcrossed with non-transgenic cacao to eliminate T-DNA sequences associated with the CRISPR–Cas9 transgene. Whole-genome sequencing of the T0 parents and 22 progeny revealed single T-DNA insertion sites in each T0 line; seven progeny retained the edited npr3 alleles but lacked T-DNA insertions. Transcriptome analysis of the mutant lines showed upregulation of genes associated with reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, defence-related transcription factors and pathogenesis-related proteins. Several genes were also downregulated, suggesting that TcNPR3 may function as both a repressor and an activator in regulating basal transcriptional states. Genome-edited plants were phenotypically comparable to wild-type controls and displayed a 42% reduction in lesion size upon Phytophthora challenge. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of generating non-transgenic cacao with reduced susceptibility to Phytophthora through CRISPR–Cas9-mediated genome editing, offering a promising strategy for sustainable cacao cultivation and improved farmer livelihoods. Field trials are underway to evaluate long-term agronomic performance under natural conditions.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pbi.70365
Jia, Y., Xu, N., Wu, J. et al. (2025): Genome-wide association study, linkage mapping and transcriptomic analysis revealed
candidate genes with the flag leaf traits associated with nitrogen use efficiency in wheat. BMC Genomics 26, 833 | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-025-12025-7
Background: Enhancing flag leaf nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in wheat production can substantially increase crop productivity while minimizing nitrogen application. Quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for NUE-related have been rarely reported in wheat flag leaf traits.
Results: In this study, a natural population of 243 varieties and an RIL population of 123 F7 recombinants were subjected to different nitrogen treatments. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) and linkage analysis were performed for four agronomic traits in terms of flag leaf length, flag leaf width, flag leaf area, and SPAD (chlorophyll content) under low and normal nitrogen conditions. Through GWAS, 1,016 significant SNP loci were identified and clustered into 290 QTLs, including 11 stably mapped QTLs (stable detection in multiple environments). Additionally, an AC population was established to verify the GWAS results and identify reliable QTL intervals. Three stable loci, namely, QFLLR6D.3 QFLWR6A.6, and QSPADR5B.3, were validated in the AC population, located 1.34 Mb, 2.84 Mb, and 5 Mb away from linkage mapping significant QTL, respectively. Through further transcriptome analysis of Chilero leaves at the jointing, anthesis and grain filling stages, four DEGs were identified within QSPADR5B.3. Among them, TraesCS5B02G394300, TraesCS5B02G394200, and TraesCS5B02G39390 encode beta-glucosidases, and TraesCS5B02G396400 encodes a potassium channel.
Conclusions: These findings offer potential candidate genes for wheat breeding, and provide a foundation for exploring the molecular targets underlying wheat NUE.
https://bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12864-025-12025-7
Cabrera, M., Messina, C.D. (2025).: A case for breeding heat-tolerant broccoli. npj Sustain. Agric. 3, 53
https://doi.org/10.1038/s44264-025-00096-8
Poor farming and human nutrition cost lives and $10 trillion/yr. Broccoli is rich in phytochemicals implicated in reduced morbidity, but maladapted to the tropics and subtropics, where human illness is severe. Here we review advances in biology and breeding to propose a blueprint for a global broccoli breeding program— designed to improve adaptation to high heat environments, harness its current health benefits, and reduce impacts of long carbon-intensive supply chains.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s44264-025-00096-8
Sharma, R., Shaaf, S., Neumann, K. et al. (2025). On the origin of the late-flowering ppd-H1 allele in barley. Theor Appl Genet
138, 246 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-025-04981-1
To breed for climate resilient crops, an understanding of the genetic and environmental factors influencing adaptation is critical. Barley provides a model species to study adaptation to climate change. Here we present a detailed analysis of genetic variation at a major photoperiod response locus and relate this to the domestication history and dispersal of barley. The PPD-H1 locus (a PSEUDO-RESPONSE REGULATOR 7) promotes flowering under long-day conditions, and a natural mutation at this locus resulted in a recessive, late-flowering ppd-H1 allele. This mutation proved beneficial in high-latitude environments such as Northern Europe, where it allows extended vegetative growth during long spring days. We infer the origin of the mutated late-flowering ppd-H1 allele by re-sequencing a large geo-referenced collection of 942 Hordeum spontaneum, 5 Hordeum agriocrithon and 1110 domesticated (Hordeum vulgare) barleys. We demonstrate that the late-flowering phenotype originated from Desert-type wild barley in the Southern Levant and present evidence suggesting a post-domestication origin of the mutated ppd-H1 allele.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00122-025-04981-1
Pang W., He W., Liang J., Wang Q. et al. (2025): Disruption of ClOSD1 leads to both somatic and gametic ploidy doubling in
watermelon, Horticulture Research 12 (1), uhae288, https://doi.org/10.1093/hr/uhae288
https://academic.oup.com/hr/article/12/1/uhae288/7822274?login=false