CRISPR/Cas turns 10 this year

Plant breeding using new plant breeding techniques is sometimes called precision breeding because DNA sequence variants are generated precisely at predetermined locations in a genome, for example within a coding region of a protein or the DNA regions that control how a gene is expressed. This year marks 10 years since CRISPR/Cas was first demonstrated, initially in mammalian cells. 

Since then, progress has been rapid and an increasing number of countries now have guidelines in place to allow the cultivation of crops bred using precision breeding. Initially, these were mainly countries in the Americas, which, if they had regulations, based them primarily on a case-by-case decision. Since then, we have been waiting to see which path countries from other continents with significant agricultural production would take. Then, in the last half of 2022, there have been significant developments, with countries in both Asia and Africa establishing new guidelines for precision bred crops. 

For most, precision bred crops are not regulated like classical GMOs but are treated on a case-by-case basis. Interestingly, several European countries are now working to introduce non-GMO guidelines for the cultivation of precision crops, initially in countries outside the EU, such as the UK, Switzerland and Russia, in several cases countries with significant trade with the EU. 

In the EU, we are waiting to see what direction developments take. The Commission has stated that precision breeding should be seen as an important tool in the "Green Deal" and "Farm to Fork" ambitions but has not yet put forward any actual proposals for possible regulation. They should include in their considerations the approach of European third countries and whether it is possible for the EU to maintain a GMO regulation on precision bred crops. 

Happy birthday CRISPR/Cas.