المملكة: KAUST researchers develop a new method to precisely genetically engineer plants

Developed by researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology “KAUST” A new method allows large genes, carrying new genetic instructions, to be added precisely to specific locations within the plant’s genetic material, overcoming a challenge that has hindered the progress of Sustainable agriculture, biotechnology, and the use of plants to produce medicines and biologics on a large scale.

A new approach

The study, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, presents a new approach to genome engineering that allows scientists to insert large genes into specific locations within plant genomes.

The team has demonstrated the success of this approach in tobacco and rice plants, opening new horizons for future research in agricultural biotechnology, synthetic biology, And plant-based biomanufacturing.

Precise changes

In this context, it is noteworthy that scientists have made great progress in gene editing using technologies such as CRISPR, which allows for precise and targeted changes in DNA. However, adding entirely new genes is still more complex, especially when large sections of genetic information need to be inserted into precisely defined locations.

The importance of this challenge is that developing many of the traits needed in future crops, such as increased heat and drought tolerance and disease resistance, may require the introduction of several genes that work together in an integrated manner.

Biofactories

Scientists are also studying the possibility of using plants as biofactories to produce medicines, vaccines and other valuable compounds, Achieving these goals is to accurately introduce larger, more complex genetic instructions into plants, which has remained a major technical challenge.

Professor Magdy Mahfouz, professor of bioengineering at KAUST and lead author of the study, said, “The future of plant biotechnology will not depend only on our ability to modify genes, but will extend to our ability to provide plants with completely new genetic instructions.”

Most notable challenges

This work provides a solution to one of the most prominent technical challenges in this field, as it puts in the hands of researchers a new tool to build more biological traits. Complexity and sophistication, including features that may enable plants to become scalable platforms for manufacturing high-value therapeutics and biologics.”

The method developed by the KAUST team is distinguished by the fact that, unlike many current methods, it does not require making breaks in the DNA before inserting the genetic material, which gives researchers more precise control over the addition of new features.

Target sites

Experiments have demonstrated its ability to reliably install full-length genes and large genetic elements at target sites within the genome. This is in tobacco and rice plants, in the first practical proof of the success of this approach in plants.

Although this work is still in its research phase, the new method paves the way for the development of plants with more complex characteristics, capable of combining several useful traits or performing new biological functions.

Practical proof

The study represents the first practical proof of the success of this approach in plants, which expands the range of tools available to researchers in the fields of plant biotechnology and molecular biosynthesis.
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This achievement by KAUST opens new horizons for engineering plants with greater precision, and enhances scientists’ ability to address some of the most complex genetic challenges, leading to more advanced future applications in agriculture and bioproduction.

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