Gene-edited-wheat trial successful
Chris McCullough For Agri-View
Results from Europe’s first-ever field trial of a gene-edited variety of wheat have shown a significant reduction of the potential carcinogen acrylamide when the flour is baked. Researchers at Rothamsted Research in the United Kingdom used a gene-editing tool called CRISPR to eliminate a gene in the wheat.
The CRISPR system – Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats – is a plant-breeding innovation that uses site-directed nucleases to target and modify deoxyribonucleic acid – DNA – with great accuracy. It was developed in 2012 by scientists from the University of California-Berkeley. It has received a lot of attention in recent years due to its range of applications – including biological research, and breeding and development of agricultural crops and animals.
The new wheat strain was gene-edited to reduce the formation of asparagine in the wheat grains. When cooked, that amino acid is converted to acrylamide, which is a potential carcinogen that food processors are keen to control.
The trials showed levels of asparagine – acrylamide’s precursor – in the gene-edited wheat were as much as 50 percent less than the control variety Cadenza. Once ground into flour and cooked, the amounts of acrylamide formed were also significantly reduced by as much as 45 percent.
The researchers said the field trail was an important step in determining whether the new gene-edited wheat would be viable. Indoor trials under glass had proved successful, but only by planting in experimental fields could the research team be sure the new strain could deliver for farmers.
Professor Nigel Halford, who led the research, said, “The study showed that gene editing to reduce asparagine concentration in the wheat grain works just as well in the field as under glass.
“This is important because the availability of low-acrylamide wheat could enable food businesses to comply with evolving regulations on the presence of acrylamide in food without costly changes to production lines or reductions in product quality. It could also have a significant impact on dietary acrylamide intake for consumers.”
He did warn, however, that there could be limits to the new technology depending on whether it received the proper green lights.
“However, gene-edited plants will only be developed for commercial use if the right regulatory framework is in place and breeders are confident that they will get a return on their investment in gene edited varieties,” he said.
The results of the trial are timely because the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill, which makes provision for the release and marketing of gene-edited crops, has recently been approved in the United Kingdom. However neither the Scottish nor Welsh Parliaments have granted legislative consent to the bill. The Scottish and Welsh governments have indicated they do not plan to change regulation of gene-editing technologies for food and feed. The Scottish Government said it would block the application of the bill in Scotland.
According to the queen’s speech in 2022, the measure aims to “encourage agricultural and scientific innovation” in the United Kingdom, and the “legislation will unlock the potential of new technologies to promote sustainable and efficient farming and food production.”
The act applies to precision-bred plants and vertebrate animals excluding humans, meaning they are gene-edited, and would remove them from the regulatory system for genetically modified organisms.
This is an original article written for Agri-View, a Lee Enterprises agricultural publication based in Madison, Wisconsin. Visit AgriView.com for more information.