Sunday Evening News 451 - Week 47 - 2025
Weekly report on genetic engineering, genome editing, biotechnology and legal regulation.
November 2025-11-17 - 2025-11-23
Meetings – Conferences / Treffen - Veranstaltungen
DLG-Kolloquium: Nachhaltige Produktivitätssteigerung – Innovationen, Modelle, Pioniere
02.12.2025, 10:00 – 16:15 Uhr, Hotel Aquino Tagungszentrum Katholische Akademie, Hannoversche Str. 5 b,10115 Berlin
https://www.dlg.org/events/dlg-kolloquium-2025
Online-Pressehintergrundgespräch: Öffnen EU und Bundesregierung jetzt die Tür für neue Gentechnik?
Montag, 24.11.2025 von 10:00 bis 11:00 Uhr
Anmeldung unter: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/FDQJh451TW-KmCP9oiPvxg
Press Releases - Media / Presse- und Medienberichte
Brzeziński B.: Far right to the rescue on Europe’s gene-editing revolution
https://www.politico.eu/article/far-right-rescue-europe-gene-editing-revolution-plants/
GM Watch: EU deregulation of genetic engineering: Parliament's mandate at risk of being disregarded
https://gmwatch.org/en/106-news/latest-news/20613
Gelinsky E., Hüttmann L.: GMO-Free Seed Production Under Threat! Consequences of NGT deregulation on the ground
https://www.arc2020.eu/gmo-free-seed-production-under-threat/
Euroseeds: Urgent Action for a More Efficient EU Risk Assessment: Securing Agri-Food Competitiveness and Innovation
Seed World Staff: Euroseeds, Copa and Cogeca Pushes EU for Science-First NGT Rules
Gene Watch: Biosecurity under threat: Gene-edited animals, plants and micro-organisms
https://www.genewatch.org/uploads/f03c6d66a9b354535738483c1c3d49e4/gw-biosecurity-briefing-fin.pdf
Putting scientific innovation at the heart of our economy
https://www.politico.eu/sponsored-content/putting-scientific-innovation-at-the-heart-of-our-economy/
Künzel T.: England. Regulierung: Neue Freiheiten bergen auch Risiken
Koch J.: Gentechnikrecht: Kippt das Patentverbot für neue Züchtungstechniken?
Tagliabue G.M.: Jane Goodall’s big mistake about agri-food biotech
https://www.europeanscientist.com/en/features/jane-goodalls-big-mistake-about-agri-food-biotech/
Only some selected press releases or media reports are listed here. The daily up-date of the press releases and
media reports are ►here: November week 47
Publications – Publikationen
Rönspies M., Khosravi S., Helia O., Valisi A. et al. (2025): CRISPR/Cas-mediated heritable chromosome fusions in
Arabidopsis. Science 390, Issue 6775, 843-848 | DOI: 10.1126/science.adz8505
The genome of Arabidopsis thaliana consists of 10 chromosomes. By inducing CRISPR-Cas–mediated breaks at subcentromeric and subtelomeric sequences, we fused entire chromosome arms, obtaining two eight-chromosome lines. In one line, both arms of chromosome 3 were fused to chromosome 1. In another line, the arms were transferred to chromosomes 1 and 5. Both chromosome number–reduced lines were fertile. Phenotypic and transcriptional analyses revealed no differences compared with wild-type plants. After crossing with the wild type, the progeny showed reduced fertility. The meiotic recombination patterns of the transferred chromosome arms were substantially changed. Directed chromosome number changes in plants may enable new breeding strategies, redefining linkage groups and establishing genetic barriers. Moreover, our data indicate that plants are highly robust to engineered karyotype changes.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adz8505
Schwacke R., Bolger M.E., Usadel B. (2025): PubPlant – a continuously updated online resource for sequenced and
published plant genomes: Front. Plant Sci., Sec. Plant Bioinformatics 16 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2025.1603547
Advances in next-generation sequencing technologies over the last decade have substantially reduced the cost and effort required to sequence plant genomes. Whereas early efforts focused primarily on economically important crops and model species, attention has now turned to a broader range of plants, including those with larger and more complex genomes. In 2024, the genomes of 500 plant species were published, including 370 sequenced for the first time. Tracking and providing access to published plant genomes (now covering more than 1800 species) is an invaluable service for plant researchers. PubPlant is an online resource that serves this purpose by cataloging published plant genome sequences and offering multiple visualizations (https://www.plabipd.de/pubplant_main.html). It includes a chronology of genome publications, and cladograms to display the phylogenetic relationships among the sequenced plants. An overview diagram for seed plants highlights taxonomic orders and families with sequenced species and reveals those that have been overlooked thus far. As a use case for PubPlant, we evaluated the status of sequenced food crops. We found that the five plant families featuring the most food crops were those containing the most sequenced plant species.
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2025.1603547/full
Buchman L., Kovak E. (2025): A call for congressional action: revisiting the U.S. coordinated framework for the regulation
of biotechnology. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.,Sec. Biosafety and Biosecurity 13| https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2025.1702481
Since the 1986 release of the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology almost 40 years ago, there have been two whole of government updates that made only minor changes, while new regulations and guidance from individual agencies have made more substantial alterations. Despite scientific advances and the emergence of products that fall outside the purview of legacy statutes, repeated calls for substantive changes have gone largely unanswered. We expand upon the NSCEB’s most important recommendations for improvements to the Coordinated Framework. We recommend that Congress create an NBCO and direct it to create a centralized application submission portal; conduct horizon scanning for future products of biotechnology; streamline regulations for familiar products and exempt low-risk products; and improve organizational structure, staff training, and interagency exchange.
Gallardo R.K., Ma X., Galinato S.P., Northfield T. (2025): Unlocking consumer preferences: Estimating the willingness to pay
for integrated pest management practices. Jnl of Agr & App Econ Assoc. 2025;1–24. | https://doi.org/10.1002/jaa2.70030
Pesticides boost agricultural yields but bring environmental and climate concerns, driving a cycle of increased use. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) aims to lower pesticide reliance, yet it may impact ecosystems. This study examines consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for IPM‐labeled fruits and the role of climate awareness. A survey of blueberry and cherry buyers shows the highest WTP for biocontrol over other IPM methods. After a climate intervention, WTP increased for all labels. Latent class analysis reveals three groups: pro‐biocontrol, priceconscious, and pro‐gene editing. These insights guidemarketing, policymaking, and education on IPM's benefits and climate impact mitigation.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jaa2.70030
Albalawi, T., Faizan, M., Karabulut, F. et al. (2025): Unlocking crop resilience through CRISPR Cas9 mediated gene editing
against environmental stressors. Discov. Plants 2, 324 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s44372-025-00408-9
Abiotic stresses associated with climate change such as extreme temperatures, salinity, and drought pose major threats to plant health and agricultural productivity. Traditional strategies like conventional breeding and transgenic approaches have made notable contributions but face limitations including time consuming processes, lower precision, and regulatory constraints. Recent advances in genome editing have introduced powerful tools for the precise manipulation of stress-responsive genes. Among these, the CRISPR/Cas (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/CRISPR-associated) system has emerged as a revolutionary technology due to its simplicity, efficiency, and versatility. CRISPR/Cas has been successfully used to knock out negative regulators of stress responses, activate beneficial genes, and edit key transcription factors involved in stress signaling pathways. It has enabled the development of crop varieties with improved tolerance to drought, salinity, and temperature extremes. Several studies also demonstrate its potential in fine-tuning regulatory networks without introducing foreign DNA. These advances underscore the transformative potential of CRISPR/Cas in crop improvement for climate resilience. Continued research and integration into breeding programs will be crucial for sustainable agricultural productivity under changing environmental conditions. This review highlights recent progress in the application of CRISPR/Cas genome-editing technologies for improving plant resilience to climate-induced abiotic stresses.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44372-025-00408-9
Cindi S. Zimmermann C.S., Thundivalappil S.R., Wilson-Mifsud B., Boyle S. et al. (2026): Hazard assessment of insecticidal
proteins representing different structural classes using an in vitro experimental platform of human intestinal epithelial monolayers. Food and Chemical Toxicology 207, 115850 | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2025.115850
Hazard assessment of proteins using human-derived intestinal epithelial cell (IEC) lines has been investigated previously. The purpose of this work was to a) reduce occurrences of false positives by including a non-hazardous protein (BSA) negative control while redesigning statistical analyses; and b) consider the potential of the IEC assay as a component of a weight of evidence approach in the hazard assessment of four different structural/functional classes of insecticidal proteins. The protein classes evaluated included: Mpf (Mpf2Ba1); Cyt (IPD084Aa); Cry (IP3-H9); and uncharacterized (IPD072Aa). Using BSA as the negative control comparator paired with a statistical method correcting for false positives, it was determined that three of the four proteins evaluated did not reveal any indications of hazard. Statistically significant effects on barrier integrity and cytotoxicity endpoints were observed for intact (non-digested) IPD072Aa protein, however, no adverse effects were observed in acute and repeated dose oral toxicity studies with IPD072Aa. Use of the IEC assay featuring refinements to better distinguish between false negatives and effects that are significant and reproducible may serve as a useful component within a weight of evidence approach to inform the level of downstream in vivo testing warranted to identify potentially hazardous proteins.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278691525006180?via%3Dihub
Saroha, A., Shahid, D., Aravind, J. et al. (2025): Characterization of trehalose-6-phosphate synthase gene family in linseed
(Linum usitatissimum L.) and its potential implications in flowering time regulation. BMC Plant Biol 25, 1581 | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-025-07559-7
Background: Linseed is an important oilseed crop with diverse applications in the food, nutraceutical, oil, and paint industries. Flowering time is a critical trait in linseed, as it greatly influences seed yield potential and quality across various agro-ecological zones. Trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (TPS) genes have been implicated in the regulation of flowering time in plants. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis of the TPS gene family in linseed, using comparative genomics and bioinformatics approaches, is essential for elucidating the genetic mechanisms underlying flowering time regulation in this crop.
Results: A total of 18 LuTPS genes, including several paralogs, were identified in the linseed genome and clustered into two distinct groups. Gene expression analysis in developing floral buds, flower, and vegetative tissues revealed that most TPS genes exhibited basal expression levels. However, LuTPS6.1, LuTPS6.2, LuTPS10.1, LuTPS1.1, LuTPS1.2, LuTPS7.2, LuTPS7.3, LuTPS7.4, and LuTPS8.2 showed significantly higher expression and strong correlation with key flowering-related genes such as FT, FUL, and SOC1. Allelic variation analysis using early- and late-flowering linseed accessions revealed trait-specific SNPs in LuTPS6.1 and LuTPS10.2. A comprehensive analysis of cis-regulatory elements (CREs) in the promoter regions of LuTPS genes, compared to the entire linseed genome, identified several CREs that were significantly enriched in TPS gene promoters, as well as those that were consistently present across all LuTPS gene promoters. Furthermore, the genome-wide syntenic network analysis involving linseed and nine other plant genomes provided valuable insights into TPS-associated syntelogs and the evolutionary dynamics and expansion of the TPS gene family. The physical proximity of TPS genes to known flowering time QTLs/QTNs is also discussed.
Conclusion: This study, with TPS gene family characterization, gene expression and allelic variation highlights the potential role of the TPS genes in the regulation of flowering time in linseed. The identified enriched CREs in the promoters of TPS genes would be crucial to understand the regulation of TPS genes in growth, development and stress response. TPS-associated syntelogs provided valuable insights into the evolutionary history and expansion of the TPS gene family. Collectively, these findings represent a significant step toward understanding the complex genetic regulation of flowering time in linseed.
https://bmcplantbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12870-025-07559-7
Basso M.F., Valencia-Jiménez A.,Celso F.L, Gerhardt I.R. et al. (2025): Exploring Plant α-Amylase Inhibitors: Mechanisms and
Potential Application for Insect Pest Control. Biotechnology J. 20 (8), e70098 | https://doi.org/10.1002/biot.70098
α-Amylases are found in microbes, plants, and animals, including insect pests. They play crucial roles in catalyzing the hydrolysis of α-1,4-glucan bonds within starch, glycogen, and related carbohydrates, forming shorter oligomers. In green plants, these enzymes are pivotal for starch degradation during photosynthesis and seed germination, whereas in phytophagous insect pests, they predominantly facilitate seed parasitism by degrading raw starch granules. Amylase inhibitors in plants appear to function as part of their defense against pests and pathogens. In the context of insect pests, some of these amylase inhibitors can target α-amylases in the digestive system of certain insects. Both mono- and dicotyledonous plants harbor multiple genes encoding proteinaceous α-amylase inhibitors. Previous studies have demonstrated that α-amylase inhibitors, whether produced in vitro or overexpressed in transgenic plants, can exhibit entomotoxic activity against certain insect pests. Field trials involving transgenic plants that overexpress α-amylase inhibitors have been conducted, laying the foundation for the potential commercialization of crops engineered with these genes. Herein, this review explores the molecular interactions between plant α-amylase inhibitors and insect α-amylases, shedding light on the underlying mechanisms of action, structural diversity, and assessing the broader biotechnological applications of this promising strategy.
https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/biot.70098
Yashinski M. (2025): Robotic cross-pollination of genetically modified flowers. Science Robotics 10, Issue 108 | DOI:
Engineered tomato plants produced flowers with visible stigmas that a robot could detect and pollinate faster than a human.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.aed6762
Fraiture M.-A., D'aes J., GobboA., Delvoye M. et al. (2025): Genetic fingerprints derived from genome database mining allow
accurate identification of genome-edited rice in the food chain via targeted high-throughput sequencing. Food Research International 221 (1), 117218 | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2025.117218
Genome-edited (GE) organisms are currently classified as GMOs according to European legislation, requiring traceability and labelling in the food and feed supply chain. However, unambiguous identification of a specific GE organism with one or more induced single nucleotide variations (SNVs) dispersed across the genome remains challenging. This study explored whole-genome sequencing-based characterization, public genome databases, and machine learning tools to select key genetic elements and create a unique fingerprint for distinguishing a specific GE line. As a case study, a GE Nipponbare rice line containing a single CRISPR-Cas-induced SNV was used. To experimentally assess the detection of this fingerprint, a targeted high-throughput sequencing approach, including multiplex PCR-based enrichment of key genetic elements, was developed and successfully tested. This promising proof-of-concept demonstrates the potential of combining a unique genetic fingerprint with targeted high-throughput sequencing to facilitate the accurate detection of GE organisms, thereby supporting food traceability and regulatory compliance for the development of new GE lines, as well as protecting associated intellectual property.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096399692501556X?via%3Dihub#bb0235
Shillito, R.D., Whitt, S., Ross, M. et al. Detection of genome edits in plants—from editing to seed. In Vitro Cell.Dev.Biol.-Plant 57,
595–608 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11627-021-10214-z
Genome editing (also known as gene editing) employs a range of tools such as Meganucleases, Zinc Finger Nucleases, TALENs, and more recently CRISPR to make defined changes in genes, regulatory sequences, untranslated regions, or intergenic regions. It is increasingly being applied in plant science research and to improve plant varieties. The benefits of having effective detection tools begin with optimization of the genome editing process itself and continue with selection and characterization of tissue cultures and/or regenerated plants. Detection tools are also used throughout the breeding process, and for preparation of regulatory dossiers when required, as well as for seed production, and may be necessary for monitoring products in the marketplace. Detection and identification of genome edits employs a wide range of analytical approaches including PCR, digital PCR, and sequencing methods. This article examines the applicability of each category of detection or identification approach, from the optimization of genome editing processes, through creation of edits, selection and characterization, and breeding. The challenges surrounding the detection of genome edits present at low levels in large seed, plant, or grain populations and of differentiating directed genome edits from conventional mutations are also explained.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11627-021-10214-z
Wu X., Wang M., Luo S., Du G. et al. (2025): Dual enhancement of mycoprotein nutrition and sustainability via CRISPR-mediated metabolic engineering of Fusarium venenatum. Trends in Biotechnology, | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2025.09.016
Mycoprotein (MP) production represents a promising environmentally sustainable strategy to address global protein deficit. To enhance the nutritional profile and production efficiency of MP, we employed CRISPR/Cas9-mediated scarless gene knockout and obtained a Fusarium venenatum strain (designated FCPD), which exhibited a 32.9% increase in essential amino acid index (EAAI) through targeted truncation of competitive metabolic pathways and regulation of amino acid metabolism or biosynthesis. FCPD achieved a 44.3% reduction in substrate consumption while improving MP production rate by 88.4% compared with the wild type (WT) strain. The cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) shows that FCPD could reduce environmental impacts such as global warming potential (GWP) by 4–61.3% under production scenarios in six representative countries. Comparative environmental performance demonstrated the superiority of FCPD-MP over cell-cultured meat and chicken meat. These findings establish CRISPR/Cas technology and metabolic engineering as the dual-purpose tool for both nutritional enhancement and environmental impact mitigation in alternative protein production.
https://www.cell.com/trends/biotechnology/fulltext/S0167-7799(25)00404-4