The latest genetic methods for food safety and sustainable agriculture

Gene editing is like a GPS that gets us to our destination faster: to solving the question of how to feed a growing population in times of geopolitical crises and climate change. The new method makes crop breeding much more efficient, but it is not yet allowed in the European Union, unlike in Japan, the USA, or Australia. That is why leading experts, politicians, and farmers are coming to Prague for a two-day conference organized by the Czech Academy of Sciences as part of the Czech EU Presidency.

Breeding has been helping to increase yields and improve crop quality for centuries. However, it is no longer keeping pace with the world's growing population, as well as climate or political changes.

Genetic modification of plants is changing the game

However,  scientists have nuclear scissors in their hands that can dramatically speed up the natural process of plant breeding without introducing foreign genetic information into plants. The latest genetic editing method allows surgically precise changes and corrections to the genome - quickly, cheaply, and efficiently.

"You cannot tell a plant bred by gene editing from a plant bred classically," emphasizes Eva Zažímalová, biochemist and President of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS). "Gene editing is a safe method and it is our hope to have enough food in the future."

GPS for breeders

Gene editing will allow transforming agriculture into a sustainable one - crops will be more resistant to drought and pests, for example, and there will be less need for pesticides, fertilizers, and sprays.

"If you have to find a certain house, you can use an old map, drive for hours, end up in traffic; or you can use a GPS navigation. This is exactly the same thing – it brings you immediately to the desired change in the crop," explains Dirk Inzé, the EU-SAGE coordinator and scientific director of the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology. "Given the climate change and what is happening in the world, this is really an important tool for plants and breeders."

This method is used by developed countries such as Japan, the US, and Australia, but also by India, China, and South American countries. After Brexit, the UK is also working on allowing it. However, it is banned in the European Union. It falls into the GMO category and it is thus subject to rules that are about 20 years old.

Conference on news and the mood of society

But even at the EU level, changes are slowly happening and scientists are having active debates with politicians. This topic will also be discussed at the two-day conference Genome Editing for Food Safety and Crop Improvement, organized by the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague as part of the Czech EU Presidency.

"We want to present the latest scientific findings, their application in gene-edited crops, and to discuss how they can have an impact on the path to sustainable agriculture," says David Honys, a member of the Academic Council of the CAS and a plant geneticist.

The keynote speaker will be Dirk Inzé, the coordinator of the EU-SAGE, an organization of scientists who recommend gene editing based on scientific facts. Other speakers will include members of the European Parliament and the European Commission, representatives of ministries, foreign universities, and Czech scientists, such as the President of the CAS Eva Zažímalová and Jaroslav Doležel from the Institute of Experimental Botany of the CAS, and others.

The conference should also result in recommendations on how to introduce gene-edited crops in Europe in order to have wider public support.

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