Sunday Evening News 468 / 2026
Weekly report on genetic engineering, genome editing, biotechnology and legal regulation.
March 2026-03-23 - 2026-03-29
Frohe Ostern wünscht der WGG
The WGG wishes you a Happy Easter
Meetings – Conferences / Treffen - Veranstaltungen
ISPMF 2026 Valencia: 7th International Conference on Plant Molecular Farming
13–15 May 2026 · UPV, Valencia
https://www.ispmf2026valencia.org/
Theologischer Abend: Neue Gentechnik - ein Weg zur Perfektion?
Am Freitag, 22. Mai, 19.30 Uhr laden wir im Rahmen der landesweiten Wissenschaftsnacht zu einem Theologischen Abend ein. Daniela Proske, Mitarbeiter der katholisch-theologischen Fakultät der Bonner Universität, diskutiert mit uns über die Frage: Neue Gentechnik - ein Weg zur Perfektion?
Press Releases - Media / Presse- und Medienberichte
Prof. Dr. Gaby-Fleur Böl zur BVL-Präsidentin ernannt - Bundesminister Alois Rainer überreicht Ernennungsurkunde
Goethe-Universität: Ein Wendepunkt der modernen Genetik
Davor Solter und Azim Surani erhalten den Paul Ehrlich- und Ludwig Darmstaedter-Preis 2026
https://aktuelles.uni-frankfurt.de/einblick/ein-wendepunkt-der-modernen-genetik/
Informationsdienst Gentechnik: Neue Gentechnik: Länder wollen weniger Patente
Koch J.: Saatgut-Patente: Agrarminister warnen vor Nachteilen für Landwirte
transkript: BRAIN erhält grünes Licht für neue Patentfamilie bei CRISPR
https://transkript.de/artikel/2026/brain-erhaelt-gruenes-licht-fuer-neue-patentfamilie-bei-crispr/
Endspurt: Jetzt Lockerung bei Gentechnik ablehnen
https://blog.gls.de/perspektiven/lockerung-bei-gentechnik-ablehnen/
SPÖ-Sidl fordert mehr Vorsicht bei gentechnisch veränderten Mikroorganismen
Rothamsted gene-edited barley crop becomes first to receive a UK Precision Bred Organism marketing notice
Digital NH: China rejects Indian rice shipments citing GMO concerns; exporters flag ‘trade tactic’
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 13/2026
Publications – Publikationen
Haider S., Singh A.P, Panthi B.c, Sindhu S.R. et al. (2026): Advances in CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing for crop improvement
and global food security. Current Plant Biology 46, 100593 | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpb.2026.100593
Global food security is escalating by population growth, climate change and depletion of basic resources, and explicitly demands the implementation of cutting-edge approaches to improve crop yield, resilience, and nutritional quality. CRISPR/Cas9 technology has transformed modern agriculture by introducing accurate and inherently stable modifications in different plants. This review highlights the latest advancements in the application of CRISPR/Cas9 technology for crop improvement and explores its potential in mitigating global food security. These advancements include the use of base and prime editing to accurately alter metabolic pathways for nutritional enhancements, along with designing Cas variants with limited dependency on PAM, to facilitate editing in complex genome crops like wheat. Moreover, the integration of artificial intelligence-driven target prediction and speed breeding has significantly improved varietal development by shortening breeding period and increasing resilience to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Case studies in cereal (Rice, wheat, maize, and sorghum) and horticultural crops provide evidence of CRISPR’s major contribution towards limiting food security, improving nutritional value, and mitigating postharvest waste. This section also addresses the dynamic regulatory developments in different areas, associated ethical reflections, and approaches to foster fair accessibility stressing the transparent governance and public participation in the implementation of this technique.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214662826000150?via%3Dihub
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214662826000150
Wu X, Bellagio T., Peng Y., Czech L., Meixi Lin M. et al. (2026): Rapid adaptation and extinction in synchronized outdoor
evolution experiments of Arabidopsis. Science 391 (6792) | DOI: 10.1126/science.adz0777
INTRODUCTION: Contemporary evolution in natural environments is being documented in many plant and animal species. However, an integrative understanding of the dynamics of rapid adaptation to different climates—the tempo, genetic architecture, predictability, and population feedbacks—remains unclear for most species. The gold standard to experimentally study the dynamics of evolution has been represented by microbial long-term laboratory experiments combined with genome resequencing, but such experiments remain challenging in multicellular macroorganisms, especially in ecologically realistic environments.
RATIONALE: We studied the evolutionary and population dynamics of rapid adaptation in different climates with an internationally synchronized outdoor evolution experiment using the annual plant Arabidopsis thaliana. After coordinated planting of an equal mixture of 231 A. thaliana accessions, 12 replicates were established at 30 sites across Western Europe, the Mediterranean and Levant, and the United States for up to 5 years. Experimental sites spanned contrasting climates—from urban European environments to the likely edge of the species’ niche, the Negev desert. Combining high-coverage sequencing of 231 founder accessions with pooled whole-genome sequencing of more than 2500 samples of surviving adults comprising more than 70,000 tissue samples in the first 3 years, we characterized the dynamics of evolution in real time across climates.
RESULTS: Standing genetic variants changed in frequency rapidly across experiments, with repeatable trends among populations within similar climates but diverging trends across contrasting climates. Allele frequency shifts significantly exceeded neutral expectations. We reason that much of such shifts may be attributed to environmental natural selection, as we observed significantly synchronized (both increasing and decreasing) trends in allele frequency shifts across independent population replicates, both within one garden and in different gardens with similar climates. Such repeatability was observed in 24 of 30 gardens. Accessions from climatically matching origins increased in frequency, following patterns of past local adaptation with the strongest signals for annual mean temperature. Yet for accessions from warm regions, where we found strong local adaptation signals, we detected evidence for a recent adaptation lag; that is, they had the highest fitness when transplanted to gardens ~1.5°C colder than their home sites.
Experimental evolution genome-environment associations (eGEA) identified genomic regions that overly diverge across climates, including both known adaptive loci, such as a florigen-encoding gene, as well as genes potentially involved in thermal response, such as CAM5. This gene, found in a region with low linkage disequilibrium, represented one of the most pronounced allele frequency shifts, which is best explained by selection coefficients reaching –46 to +60% from cold to warm gardens, respectively. The overall genetic architecture was highly polygenic, but allele trajectories were partially predictable using genomic offset models.
CONCLUSION: Despite evidence for rapid evolution across several climates, evolutionary trends were unpredictable in a fraction of gardens and experimental replicates. In the warmest environments, which are expected to become more prevalent with global climate change, we found that early-generation evolutionary repeatability separated persisting experimental populations from those that suffered extinction, suggesting eco-evolutionary tipping points where extreme selection overwhelms adaptive potential. Although rapid climate adaptation is possible through standing genetic variation, understanding which environmental, genetic, or species-specific conditions dictate evolutionary limits will be critical for predicting biodiversity responses to climate change.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adz0777
Lerner, A., Lieber A.D., Nelson-Dooley C., Leu A. et al. (2026): (2026) Genetically Modified Microorganisms: Risks and
Regulatory Considerations for Human and Environmental Health, Microorganisms 14(2), 467; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms14020467
Advances in affordable genetic engineering have accelerated the creation and large-scale environmental release of genetically modified microorganisms (GMMs). While beneficial applications exist, GMMs may present unique, long-term risks to human and environmental health. Unlike static chemicals, GMMs are biologically active, self-replicating entities capable of rapid mutation and global dispersal. Current regulatory frameworks place responsibility on each country to regulate GMMs, without a clear, coordinated international policy. This review details critical risk scenarios, including horizontal gene transfer to native species and the possible disruption of vital human microbiomes (gut, oral, and infant), which could increase resistance to degradation, promote traits that expand a microbe’s range of hosts or ecological niches, and enhance the production of novel metabolites with unexpected biological activity. In soil, GMMs may support the emergence of “super bugs” or destabilize carbon sequestration cycles, potentially impacting climate resilience. Engineered microbial enzymes in the food supply may also act as environmental drivers of autoimmunity. Given the limited understanding of microbial ecology, we propose a decision-based biosafety workflow emphasizing pre-release risk assessment and continuous post-release monitoring. We urge national and international regulators to adopt the precautionary principle to better protect human health and the environment from the potential negative outcomes of GMMs.
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/14/2/467
Lu Y., Bouchard C., Soucy N., Siddika A. et al. (2026): The Improvements and Applications of Prime Editing. DNA 6 (1), 16 |
https://doi.org/10.3390/dna6010016
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9, a genome-editing technology pioneered in 2012, enables the precise correction of deleterious mutations or disruption of disease-causing genes through targeted double-strand breaks (DSBs), offering potential for treating genetic diseases. However, CRISPR/Cas9 can cause off-target cleavage at non-specific DNA sites, leading to unintended insertions or deletions (indels), which limit its safety and applicability despite ongoing improvements in specificity. Recently, prime editing (PE), an advanced CRISPR-derived technology, has been employed with a Cas9 nickase (Cas9n) fused with a reverse transcriptase and a prime editing guide RNA (pegRNA) to enable precise insertions, deletions, and transversions without inducing DSBs, thus reducing risks of indels and chromosomal aberrations. Furthermore, ongoing optimizations, such as improved pegRNA design and enhanced editing efficiency, have expanded the applications of PE in medical therapeutics, agriculture, and fundamental research. This review summarizes recent advancements in the PE system, including optimized pegRNA designs and enzyme engineering for enhanced efficiency and specificity, alongside novel delivery methods. It also evaluates cutting-edge delivery strategies, such as adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) and novel extracellular vesicle (EV)-based systems, and explores PE applications in vitro and in vivo, including disease modeling and therapeutic gene correction.
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8856/6/1/16
Shi, J., Li, Z., Wang, Z. et al. (2026): ZmMYB127 controls maize endosperm filling via dual-transcriptional regulation to
improve grain yield and quality. Nat. Plants 12, 617–634 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-026-02238-3
As the main nutrient reservoir in cereal grains, the endosperm largely determines grain yield, performance and nutrition. However, knowledge of genes that coordinate endosperm filling and nutrient deposition, which could offer potential for genetic improvement of grain traits, remain limited. Here we identified ZmMYB127, a filling-endosperm-specific MYB transcription factor. Its knockout disrupted filling-stage aleurone layer morphology and nutrient accumulation, leading to reduced kernel weight, quality and nutrition. ZmMYB127 exerts dual transcriptional control over core endosperm-filling genes, including naked endosperm-1/2 (NKD1/2), crinkly4 (CR4) and opaque2 (O2). ZmMYB127 forms an activation complex with O2 to synergistically induce NKD1/2 expression by binding to two distinct cis-regulatory elements (CREs). Conversely, the co-repressor ZmLUG3 bridges ZmMYB127 and ZmABI4, a B3-domain transcription factor, to form a repressive complex that suppresses O2 and CR4 via another CRE pair. Filling-endosperm-specific overexpression of ZmMYB127 enhanced kernel weight, quality and nutrition. Introducing this overexpression into the elite cultivar Zhengdan958 confirmed its breeding potential. Furthermore, its rice homologue OsMYB20 also plays a conserved role in endosperm filling. Our findings establish ZmMYB127 as a promising target for grain improvement without trade-offs for precision breeding.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-026-02238-3
Dai B., Lv D., Chen E., Gu Z. et al. (2026): Resetting of a tandem microRNA156 enables vegetative perennial growth in rice,
Science 391 (6791), 1239-1245 |DOI: 10.1126/science.adv2188
INTRODUCTION: Plants exhibit a wide variety of life history strategies. Rice (Oryza sativa), one of the most widely grown staple crops worldwide, is cultivated as an annual species, whereas several of its wild relatives, such as Oryza rufipogon, display a perennial growth habit characterized by sustained vegetative growth and repeated reproduction. During domestication, this perennial growth habit was largely lost, representing an important shift in the life history strategy of rice. However, the genetic basis responsible for this transition remains poorly understood.
RATIONALE: To address this question, we investigated the traits associated with the perennial growth habit using 446 accessions of perennial wild rice. In O. rufipogon, one of the key traits linked to its perennial growth habit is a grasslike plant architecture, characterized by extensive tillering, floral reversion, and vegetative propagation—a phenotype largely absent in modern cultivated rice. To delineate the genetic basis underlying this trait, we used a set of single-segment substitution lines derived from both wild and cultivated rice and identified a gene locus that harbors tandem microRNA156 genes (MIR156BC). Through expression pattern analysis and epigenomic profiling, we investigated how dynamic changes in miR156 abundance promote a vegetative perennial growth habit in O. rufipogon. Finally, we explored whether we could reproduce the vegetative perennial growth habit of O. rufipogon in cultivated rice by introgressing this gene locus along with loci associated with prostrate growth.
RESULTS: We identified Endless Branches and Tillers 1 (EBT1) as a key gene locus controlling vegetative propagation and floral reversion in O. rufipogon W1943. The EBT1 locus harbors two tandem MIR156BC genes and has been positively selected for. Whereas wild-type cultivars senesce after seed setting, plants carrying the EBT1 allele from O. rufipogon W194 (EBT1W1943) exhibit vigorous tiller bud outgrowth and sustained vegetative growth after flowering. Mechanistically, unlike MIR156BC in modern annual cultivars, MIR156BC expression in O. rufipogon can be reset in developing tiller buds after flowering. This expression pattern is associated with increased chromatin accessibility and a reduction in the repressive epigenetic marker H3K27me3 at a regulatory region of EBT1. The combination of PROSTRATE GROWTH 1, TILLER INCLINED GROWTH 1, and EBT1W1943 enables annual cultivated rice to largely recapitulate the vegetative perennial growth habit of O. rufipogon.
CONCLUSION: We have identified MIR156BC as a key determinant of perenniality in rice. The distinctive epigenetic state at the MIR156BC locus in O. rufipogon facilitates its resetting after flowering, which subsequently leads to floral reversion and vegetative perennial growth. Our findings not only offer fresh insights into the genetic basis of perenniality in cereals but also pave the way for the development of sustainable perennial rice cultivars in the future.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adv2188
Erdoğan I., Debbarma R., Sherry M., Mancak I., Grant M., Tör M. (2026):Genome editing and regeneration pipeline for
engineering disease resistance in tomato using CRISPR/Cas9. Front. Plant Sci., Sec. Technical Advances in Plant Science 7 - 2026 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1754287
CRISPR/Cas9 (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/Cas9)-based genome editing has emerged as a powerful tool for developing disease-resistant crops. Here, we present a comprehensive and reproducible protocol for applying CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), covering guide RNA (gRNA) design using CRISPOR, Golden Gate vector assembly, Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, plant regeneration, and molecular validation of edited plants. The workflow integrates standardized bioinformatics and sequencing-based validation tools, including DSDecodeM, TIDE, and protein-level impact analysis, to confirm targeted mutations and assess editing efficiency. Quantitative benchmarks for regeneration, transformation, and editing efficiencies were provided to support reproducibility. This protocol offers an integrated pipeline for generating and validating targeted gene knockouts in tomatoes and is intended to facilitate functional genomic studies and the development of disease-resistant cultivars. However, it is more widely applicable to gene editing in tomato plants.
EFSA
FEZ Panel (2026): Safety evaluation of an extension of use of the food enzyme cellulase from the genetically modified Trichoderma
reesei strain AR-852. EFSA Journal, 24 (3), e10025. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2026.10025
https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2903/j.efsa.2026.10025