H2020 CRISP-4-CROPS Project: Implementation of CRISPR/Cas9 technology to improve resistance to abiotic stress in cereals
- Type Project
- Status Filled
- Execution 2017 -2018
- Assigned Budget 72.500,00 €
- Scope Europeo
- Main source of financing H2020
- Project website CRISP-4-CROPS
Among cereals, maize (Zea mays) is the most widely produced (almost 900 million metric tons per year) and the third most economically valuable cereal, after rice and wheat, according to the FAO (FAOSTAT, 2016). Therefore, within the framework of CRISPR-4-CROPS, IDEN has carried out the process of generating a new variety of maize using CRISPR technology.
The one-year project was proposed as an initial step toward improving maize. The project was structured into three milestones.
Target gene selection. Initially designed to improve a single maize trait, the study involved a literature review and patent analysis for target genes of interest.
In this process, other genes of interest related to the production of healthy compounds were also identified. Ultimately, the goal was to develop corn lines that overaccumulate healthy compounds, improving their nutritional profile (target gene information is kept confidential to avoid future patentability issues). It is hoped that eliminating the expression of these genes using CRISPR technology could contribute to the development of new corn varieties with the aforementioned characteristics.
Gene editing. Two plant transformation methods were used to implement CRISPR technology: Agrobacterium-mediated or biolistic, but different success rates were obtained depending on the selection. For this reason, the project was divided into two branches, each including a gene of interest and a transformation methodology.
The project included only the initial stages of corn variety development, as it takes at least three years to generate bulk seeds of mutant plants ready for testing for improved yield. Field trials must then be conducted, which could take two to three years. In total, once the CRISPR-4-CROPS project is completed, it will take about six years to develop a new corn variety.
Rapid global climate change is affecting agricultural productivity and, consequently, food availability worldwide. Global warming, heat stress, drought, salinity, and other factors drastically affect agricultural productivity and threaten global food security. In this context, there is a great need for multidisciplinary research to select and develop high-yielding cultivars resistant to these abiotic stresses, which can maintain and improve agricultural productivity in crop fields. Cereals are the main source of food and nutritional components for human health and livestock feed worldwide. It is worth mentioning that one-fifth of the world's arable land is arid and semi-arid, and two-thirds of it is saline, severely affecting agricultural productivity and nutritional profile. In this context, the selection of drought- and salinity-tolerant cultivars is proposed as a viable alternative to maintain agricultural productivity in these regions.
The use of traditional breeding is effective, but very slow: about 10 years of research and field experiments.
The implementation of gene editing techniques requires highly qualified personnel. The overall objective of the proposal is to overcome the barriers to recruiting highly qualified PhDs or equivalent specialists in gene editing techniques for agricultural applications, particularly the CRISPR-Cas 9 system.
Iden Biotechnology SL, an agrobiotechnology company focused on developing products for the agri-food industry, seeks to exploit CRISPR/Cas9 (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats), a recently developed technology for targeted genome modification, to breed new cereal varieties that overaccumulate beneficial compounds, thereby improving their nutritional profile. CRISPR/Cas9 gives scientists the ability to modify DNA more precisely by activating or deactivating genes or by editing it. Using this technique for crop improvement has three main advantages: technical, legislative, and competitive:
- The results obtained are similar to those that could be obtained through natural mutations and conventional genetic improvement, although they are targeted, more precise, and faster.
- In addition to the technical advantages mentioned above, crops modified using this technique can open up new market opportunities, including the European market.
- Competitive advantage.
The overall objective of the proposal is to overcome barriers to the recruitment of highly qualified PhDs or equivalent specialists in gene editing techniques for agricultural applications, particularly CRISPR-Cas 9.
Iden Biotechnology SL is a private agrobiotechnology company founded in 2005 with the mission of meeting the needs of the agri-food industry.
Our goal is to exploit CRISPR/Cas9 (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats), a recently developed technology for targeted genome editing, to produce new cereal varieties with resistance to abiotic stress (resistance to low temperatures, drought and/or salinity).
CRISPR/Cas9 gives scientists the ability to modify DNA more precisely by turning genes on or off, or by editing them. They can identify and eliminate weaknesses or insert desired traits already present in other species.
There are three main advantages to using this technique for crop improvement: technical, legislative and competitive:
The results obtained are similar to those that could be obtained through natural mutations and conventional improvement, although they are targeted, more precise, and faster.
In addition to the technical advantages mentioned above, crops modified with this technique may not be subject to GMO legislation, which opens up new market opportunities, including the European market.
Competitive advantage. The European agricultural biotechnology sector could benefit from a new innovation tool to overcome the situation defined by the Scientific Advisory Council of the European Academies as: "The EU is falling behind its international competitors in agricultural innovation, which has implications for EU science and innovation objectives."
With the help of partner recruitment, we intend to apply this technology to carry out targeted genomic modification in cereals, particularly corn and wheat, which will help us develop new, improved crop varieties and thus open up new market opportunities.
Crop improvements over the last century have contributed to the success of feeding the world's population. This success is based not only on increased yields, but also on improved food quality and more efficient use of resources.
Genetic modification has been widely used throughout the 20th century to increase the productivity of agricultural plants. Precise editing of plant genomes using new technologies such as CRISPR (Clustered Interspaced Regulatory Palindromic Repeats) can help achieve the goals of modern agriculture more efficiently. This technology can be applied to numerous plant species, including cereals, as mentioned above.
Before CRISPR technology, these projects involved random mutagenesis of plant genomes and the detection of a desired trait (i.e., a better-performing plant) in a population of more than 23,000 lines, each with at least 10 plants. In other words, approximately 230,000 plants had to be planted, grown, and analyzed.
The implementation of CRISPR for gene editing has enormous potential, as it allows for the specific modification of an organism's trait. IDEN's approach focused on modifying a corn trait that would increase its agronomic value (i.e., increased nutrient content and reduced water consumption) and, therefore, the crop's market value. While the final product would be commercialized in several years, the first step is to optimize the system and edit the genes to validate its potential for use in developing better varieties.
With CRISPR technology, the investment required to obtain a mutant plant has been drastically reduced, making it viable for an SME like IDEN, opening the door to the development and commercialization of new products.
For these reasons, the goal of the CRISPR-4-CROPS project is to generate a new corn strain with greater market value. On the one hand, it seeks to generate a corn strain that overaccumulates nutritional compounds (biofortification). As a parallel project, it seeks to generate a corn strain that is more tolerant to abiotic stress as a viable alternative for maintaining productivity under adverse climatic conditions.
The technical feasibility, high specificity, low cost, and short generation time compared to other methods translate into a significant economic impact.
It's important to note that the project's timeline primarily focuses on implementing CRISPR technology in corn, but once completed, there's still a long process ahead to commercialize a product. While this is an initial step in the crop improvement process, implementing this technology allows IDEN to use it to modify other traits (other target genes), other plant species, and even other organisms in the future. The ability to use CRISPR technology positions IDEN as an innovative SME in the global gene editing landscape and opens up new opportunities for product development.
- IDEN BIOTECHNOLOGY SL (IDEN)
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