UK’s first go-ahead for CRISPR-edited plant

The UK has issued the first regulatory approval for a genetically modified crop under its new precision breeding rules. The landmark approval secured by agricultural center Rothamsted Research launches a new era of plant innovation in the UK and marks a move away from the European Union’s (EU) restrictive approach to genetically modified organisms.

The UK’s new rules consider gene editing and other precisely targeted approaches less risky than modifying plants with foreign DNA. Under the new system, if the technique introduces a desired trait through genetic modifications indistinguishable from those that might occur naturally or by conventional breeding – as is the case for CRISPR-edited plants – the resulting products require minimal oversight. Rothamsted, an agricultural research center in Harpenden, England, was the first to test the system with CRISPR-edited barley to have higher lipid content in the plant’s tissues. Increasing lipid levels in this forage crop can improve its energy value for ruminant livestock and has the potential to reduce animals’ methane emissions during digestion. The researchers achieved this by disrupting SDP1A And SDP1B — two genes that code for triacylglycerol lipases, which normally break down vegetable oils. Reduced degradation allows plants to accumulate higher levels of lipids.