How new lines of wheat were created with the help of genome editing, what qualities it acquired and how the new technology differs from the creation of genetically modified organisms, told at the All-Russian Research Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology. Wheat 2.0
Scientists of the Genomic Center of the All-Russian Research Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology (VNIISB), members of the Kurchatov Genomic Center consortium, have begun creating special lines of wheat, the genome of which is modified using the CRISPR/Cas9 editor.
“For the first time in Russia, we have created a separate area — a laboratory for digital phenotyping of edited plants as part of the development of the genomic center,” says Mikhail Divashuk, Candidate of Biological Sciences, head of the genomic center-VNIISB. - The most interesting thing we do is probably the creation and study of full-fledged edited plants. And most of all we are interested in the main food crop in Russia - wheat.
At the heart of all this is the CRISPR/Cas9 technology used for directed genome editing, but the Russian technology is much broader than just CRISPR/Cas9. After all, students can now simply rearrange some pieces of genomes in a test tube in laboratory classes.
Scientists are purposefully using editing technology to produce improved wheat lines. It is necessary to select an important gene, determine what point changes we want to make to this gene, create a vector, then bombard a tiny wheat germ with gold particles along with the developed vectors, cultivate plant cells in vitro, regenerate, adapt, all checks, and finally get a full-fledged plant that already lives on its own and reproduces normally. So it can already be used to create a variety.
Wheat can be improved in several ways.
“You can purposefully improve its quality and stability, or you can, for example, reduce its vegetation period – and then it will ripen faster,” explains Mikhail Divashuk.
In Russia, the conditions for growing plants are different everywhere. The wheat of the Moscow region grows in the conditions of the Non-Black Earth Region, in contrast to the Voronezh. The soil and climate of the Krasnodar Territory have their own characteristics, while Siberia has its own. Somewhere it is necessary for the wheat to ripen faster, to “pump” the grain with nutrients before the heat or drought, the scientist explains.
Because of the ability to edit genes in a targeted manner, now wheat varieties can be "customized" to environmental conditions much faster than with classical breeding methods.
“Our institute, in collaboration with colleagues from two other Russian institutes (IBCh and ICG), received genetically edited wheat for the first time in Russia,” says academician Gennady Karlov, director of the All-Russian Research Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology. “And for the first time in the world, we edited several genes. One such gene (VRN1) is associated with the way of life of wheat - after all, there are spring and winter forms. As a result of the editing work, we see earlier heading dates. This can be used for dry regions where wheat varieties with a shorter growing season are required.”
Digest fertilizer
Another important area in the editing of varieties is the digestibility of fertilizers by plants. After all, a significant part of the price that is included in the grain harvest is the amount of fertilizer applied, experts explain.
Intervention in the genome allows you to change the qualitative composition of products that can be obtained from wheat - flour, pasta, cereals. You can combine edited genes in such a way that you get, for example, resistant starch, which is very poorly broken down in the body. Thus, you can get a dietary product that has fewer calories. With a different combination of genes, bread will stale more slowly.
“Now it is mainly wheat that is grown, which is universal. It is suitable for both, but it is not optimal. Karlov says. “We are getting forms of wheat, which in the future, we hope, will become varieties with the desired consumer characteristics. They can be used for specific purposes. Let's say one is for the production of noodles, the other is for the production of bread, the third is for biofuels. In principle, certain starch is also used in pharmacology,” the academician noted.
gray area
However, scientists admit that while the sowing of edited wheat in the fields is still far away, this is seriously hampered by the imperfection of Russian legislation, and while genome editing of crops remains "in the gray zone."
“I think we will wait until our varieties can be registered,” says Academician Gennady Karlov. - Creating a variety is a very long process, it takes about 10-20 years. But we hope to pass this way faster.”In Russia, in 2016, a law was passed prohibiting the cultivation and breeding of genetically modified plants and animals in Russia, with the exception of scientific work.
However, plants that have undergone genetic editing using CRISPR / Cas9 technology are not considered “classical” GMOs by a number of scientific schools. After all, “their own” genes of the body are edited, and after editing, no alien genetic information remains inside the genome, these are much more predictable and controlled changes.
Scientists connect their hopes with the adoption of amendments to the law on GMOs.
“It is planned that genetically modified and genetically edited plants will be separated,” says Gennady Karlov. - For genetically modified, most likely, the ban will remain, although there is still a tendency in the world to allow these plants. But for our part, we really hope that genetically edited ones will still be allowed.”
Scientists have already received two patents for new editing technologies. Two more patent applications are pending for the gene-edited lines themselves.
“It is not rational to be afraid of genetically modified organisms, they are no worse than new breeding varieties, and in some ways even betterms of safety, if we are trying to take into account some unknown risks,” says Alexander Panchin, Ph.D. senior researcher at the Kharkevich Institute for Information Transmission Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Commission for Combating Pseudoscience. - Therefore, the attitude towards them from the point of view of the law should be the same as the attitude towards ordinary breeding varieties. It seems to me that if such laws were adopted, it would give a big impetus to domestic genetic engineering. We have many specialists who have all the necessary qualifications and skills to do this, to create. The only thing that stops them is the understanding that there is no point in doing this in Russia, and there is a brain drain, a drain of competent personnel, there is a feeling of hopelessness when scientists cannot do what they would like to do, benefiting humanity.”
Such technologies must certainly be developed at least in case of any force majeure circumstances. It is enough to recall in this regard the story of COVID-19, scientists say. When it appeared, Russia was the first to create a vaccine. This happened because at them. N.F. The Gamalei have been studying and developing adenovirus-based vaccine technologies for many years. And in agriculture, no one is immune from the emergence of a new harmful disease that will break through any protection of current varieties. And the editing tool will be the most optimal for solving this problem together with breeders and plant pathologists.
So work is in full swing at VNIISB. At the moment, an edited wheat has been created within the framework of the genomic center. This was done in close collaboration with a team led by Sergei Dolgov from the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry RAS and Elena Salina from the ICG SB RAS.
In Russia, this is the first successful experience in obtaining edited wheat.
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