CRISPR Technology Used to Edit Crop Genes

Scientists from the John Innes Centre and The Sainsbury Laboratory in the UK have shown that CRISPR can be used to make changes or edits in specific genes in two UK crops: a broccoli-like brassica and barley, and that the edits are preserved in subsequent generations. The team also found that it is possible to segregate and remove the transgenes used during editing so that subsequent generations of plants are indistinguishable in their make up from plants which have been conventionally bred.

The gene edited in barley is believed to affect grain dormancy, an important agricultural trait. In brassica, the edited gene affected the ease with which the seed pods shattered. In both cases, plants were produced that had small changes, involving just 1 – 6 bases of the DNA sequence, in the target gene. These changes were enough to prevent the target gene from working.

The editing process involved introducing some transgenes to target the specific gene and to make a cut in its DNA sequence. The small changes in the sequence occurred when the cut was repaired using the plants' own repair process. During the research, scientists identified plants from subsequent generations which contained the edit but did not contain the transgenes that caused the edit.

For more information, read the news release from John Innes Centre.