Genome Editing in Agriculture: Publication Release and Recent Research

At three time and venue options in Washington, D.C., on Monday, July 9, the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology released an issue paper titled Genome Editing in Agriculture: Methods, Applications, and Governance. To roll out this important research paper, Dr. Adam Bogdanove, a professor of plant pathology and plant-microbe biology at Cornell University, presented highlights at an event cohosted by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU). The National Coalition for Food and Agricultural Research (NC-FAR) hosted a House of Representatives lunch seminar and an afternoon Senate presentation.

The authors of this issue paper focused their attention on a tool that can increase the positive impacts of plant and animal breeding on human welfare and sustainability. Genome editing enables unprecedented control over genetic material and offers the opportunity to make rapid advances that influence agricultural practices. 

This issue paper addresses the concept by explaining

• how genome editing is performed,
• what types of edits can be made,
• how the process relates to traditional breeding and other means of genetic modification,
• what potential limitations may arise with this approach, and 
• what current factors affect the governance of genome editing.

Although much remains to be learned, it is clear that successful development of genome editing for crop and livestock improvement will benefit from science-based, value-attentive regulation that promotes innovation and transparency. This CAST Issue Paper (IP 60), its companion Ag quickCAST, and press release are available online at the CAST website. 

Gene Editing in Recent News:

New leaps in gene editing technology have brought ideas that just a decade ago seemed like science fiction into the cusp of reality. These advances have made genome editing widely applicable, offering the opportunity to rapidly advance basic and applied biology. Click here to read a recent CAST blog that highlights gene editing research that has been hitting the newsstand.

By: Kylie Peterson