The UK has issued the first regulatory approval for a gene-edited crop under its new rules for precision breeding. The landmark approval obtained by the agriculture center Rothamsted Research kicks off a new era of crop innovation in the UK and marks a shift away from the restrictive approach of the European Union (EU) toward genetically modified organisms.
The UK’s new rules deem gene editing and other precision-targeted approaches as less risky than modification of plants with foreign DNA. Under the new system, if the technique introduces a desired trait by genetic changes that are indistinguishable from those that could occur naturally or through conventional breeding — as is the case for CRISPR-edited plants — the resulting products require minimal oversight. Rothamsted, an agricultural research center in Harpenden, England, was first to test the system with barley CRISPR-edited to have a higher lipid content in the plant’s tissues. Increasing lipid levels in this forage crop can improve its energy value for ruminant livestock and has the potential to reduce the animals’ methane emissions during digestion.
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