Pioneering biologists create a new crop through genome editing
From wild plant to crop: CRISPR-Cas9 revolutionizes breeding, New tomato contains more valuable antioxidants
Date: October 1, 2018
Source: University of Münster
Summary: For the first time, researchers have created, within a single generation, a new crop from a wild plant -- the progenitor of our modern tomato -- by using a modern process of genome editing. Starting with a 'wild tomato' they have, at the same time, introduced a variety of crop features without losing the valuable genetic properties of the wild plant.
FULL STORY
Crops such as wheat and maize have undergone a breeding process lasting thousands of years, in the course of which humankind has gradually modified the properties of the wild plants in order to adapt them to his needs. One motive was, and still is, higher yields. One "side effect" of this breeding has been a reduction in genetic diversity and the loss of useful properties. This is shown, among others, by an increased susceptibility to diseases, a lack of taste or a reduced vitamin and nutrient content in modern varieties. Now, for the first time, researchers from Brazil, the USA and Germany have created a new crop from a wild plant within a single generation using CRISPR-Cas9, a modern genome editing process. Starting with a "wild tomato" they have, at the same time, introduced a variety of crop features without losing the valuable genetic properties of the wild plant. The results have been published in the current issue of Nature Biotechnology.
"This new method allows us to start from scratch and begin a new domestication process all over again," says biologist Prof. Jörg Kudla from the University of Münster (Germany), whose team is involved in the study. "In doing so, we can use all the knowledge on plant genetics and plant domestication which researchers have accumulated over the past decades. We can preserve the genetic potential and the particularly valuable properties of wild plants and, at the same time, produce the desired features of modern crops in a very short time." Altogether, the researchers spent about three years working on their studies.
The researchers chose Solanum pimpinellifolium as the parent plant species, a wild tomato relative from South America, and the progenitor of the modern cultivated tomato. The wild plant's fruits are only the size of peas and the yield is low -- two properties which make it unsuitable as a crop. On the other hand, the fruit is more aromatic than modern tomatoes, which have lost some of their taste due to breeding. Moreover, the wild fruit contains more lycopene. This so-called radical scavenger, i.e. an antioxidant, is considered to be healthy and, as a result, is a welcome ingredient.
