Changeable biotic and abiotic stress factors that affect crop growth and productivity, alongside a drive to reduce the unintended consequences of plant protection products, will demand highly adaptive farm management practices as well as access to continually improved seed varieties. The former is limited mainly by cost and, in theory, could be implemented in relatively short time frames. The latter is fundamentally a longer-term activity where genome editing can play a major role. The first targets for genome editing will inevitably be loss-of-function alleles, because these are straightforward to generate. In addition, they are likely to focus on traits under simple genetic control and where the results of modification are already well understood from null alleles in existing gene pools or other knockout or silencing approaches such as induced mutations or RNA interference. In the longer term, genome editing will underpin more fundamental changes in agricultural performance and food quality, and ultimately will merge with the tools and philosophies of synthetic biology to underpin and enable new cellular systems, processes and organisms completely. The genetic changes required for simple allele edits or knockout phenotypes are synonymous with those found naturally in conventional breeding material and should be regulated as such. The more radical possibilities in the longer term will need societal engagement along with appropriate safety and ethical oversight.
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November 2017
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Cover Image
Efficient regeneration from wheat immature embryos. Successful gene editing in crops depends on the regeneration capacity of the selected target tissue. Image kindly provided by Wendy Harwood (John Innes Centre, Norwich).
Review Article|
November 10 2017
Potential impact of genome editing in world agriculture
Jorge Martínez-Fortún;
Jorge Martínez-Fortún
1Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, U.K.
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Dylan W. Phillips;
Dylan W. Phillips
1Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, U.K.
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Huw D. Jones
1Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, U.K.
Correspondence: Huw D. Jones (huw.jones@aber.ac.uk)
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
July 18 2017
Revision Received:
September 22 2017
Accepted:
September 28 2017
Online ISSN: 2397-8562
Print ISSN: 2397-8554
© 2017 The Author(s). Published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society and the Royal Society of Biology
2017
Emerg Top Life Sci (2017) 1 (2): 117–133.
Article history
Received:
July 18 2017
Revision Received:
September 22 2017
Accepted:
September 28 2017
Citation
Wendy Harwood, Jorge Martínez-Fortún, Dylan W. Phillips, Huw D. Jones; Potential impact of genome editing in world agriculture. Emerg Top Life Sci 10 November 2017; 1 (2): 117–133. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/ETLS20170010
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