The broad and rapid application of new genomic techniques (NGTs) such as CRISPR-Cas has led to a fast increase in the number of genetically modified crops. With the recently published EU Commission’s (EC) regulatory proposal on plants generated with NGTs (July 5, 2023) the process of admission of such genetically modified plants is aimed to get accelerated and simplified. NGT plant applications shall be categorized based on their molecular characteristics into category 1 NGT (NGT1) and category 2 NGT (NGT2), which is in divergence from the current legislation centered around Directive 2001/18/EC. In the regulatory proposal NGT2 plants are envisioned to undergo a reduced risk assessment while for NGT1 plants no risk assessment is foreseen at all. To demonstrate were the path of the proposal leads to in practice, we applied the proposed criteria for categorization to a list of NGT plant applications that are currently in the commercialization pipeline. A key finding is that out of those plant applications affected by the EC proposal, 94% would be classified as NGT1 and thus would receive a market approval without risk assessment, monitoring and sufficient labeling provisions. The remaining 6% of applications would be classified as NGT2 plants for which, in deviation from the current regulation, an adapted risk assessment is proposed. A screening of intended traits in the pipeline highlights that certain NGT1 plants can pose similar environmental risks (e.g. invasiveness) compared to other genetically modified organisms (GMOs), as defined in Directive 2001/18/EC. For example, NGT1 applications based on RNAi technology can exhibit insecticidal effects with potential side effects on non-target organisms (i.e. other insects). Our quantitative and case-specific elaboration on how the current EC regulatory proposal would affect the environment, health or consumer protection will be informative for decision makers and politicians.

The stringency of GMO regulation affects trade of agricultural products among countries. On that account, our investigation attempts to shed the light on the complexity of the impact of genetically modified organisms (GMO) regulations among countries on bilateral trade with a focus on GMO approvals. We develop a framework extending Xiong and Beghin (2014) and their decomposition of export supply and imports demand effects. Our approach encompasses the supplemental effect of GMO regulation laxity in production on the exporter’s productivity. It decomposes three effects that impact bilateral trade flows between trade partners: productivity in the source country, sorting cost from bilateral dissimilarity in regulations, and stringency impact on import demand. We estimate the model using a panel dataset of corn trade and two econometric approaches (PPML, Heckman sample-selection). We find that GMO laxity in production of exporters has the most prominent and robust effect of enhancing bilateral trade of corn. The effect of GMO laxity in demand appears to be smaller than the export booster effect of GMO adoption. Finally, bilateral dissimilarity in regulations does not appear to matter, once we account for the impact of GMO in production of the exporters and laxity in demand differentiated for importer and exporters. Hence, GMO approval regulations have dominating multilateral effects rather than bilateral ones.

We review the emerging international body of evidence on attitudes and willingness to pay (WTP) for novel foods produced with New Plant Engineering Techniques (NPETs). NPETs include genome/gene editing, cisgenesis, intragenesis, RNA interference and others. These novel foods are often beneficial for the environment and human health and more sustainable under increasingly prevalent climate extremes. These techniques can also improve animal welfare and disease resistance when applied to animals. Despite these promising attributes, evidence suggests that many, but not all consumers, discount these novel foods relative to conventional ones. Our systematic review sorts out findings to identify conditioning factors which can increase the acceptance of and WTP for these novel foods in a significant segment of consumers. International patterns of acceptance are identified. We also analyze how information and knowledge interact with consumer acceptance of these novel foods and technologies. Heterogeneity of consumers across cultures and borders, and in attitudes towards science and innovation emerges as key determinants of acceptance and WTP. Acceptance and WTP tend to increase when beneficial attributes—as opposed to producer-oriented cost-saving attributes—are generated by NPETs. NPETs improved foods are systematically less discounted than transgenic foods. Most of the valuation elicitations are based on hypothetical experiments and surveys and await validation through revealed preferences in actual purchases in food retailing environments.

Among non-conventional yeasts of industrial interest, the dimorphic oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica appears as one of the most attractive for a large range of white biotechnology applications, from heterologous proteins secretion to cell factories process development. The past, present and potential applications of wild type, traditionally improved or genetically modified Yarrowia lipolytica strains will be resumed, together with the wide array of molecular tools now available to genetically engineer and metabolically remodel this yeast. The present review will also provide a detailed description of Yarrowia lipolytica strains and highlight the natural biodiversity of this yeast, a subject little touched upon in most previous reviews. This work intends to fill this gap by retracing the genealogy of the main Yarrowia lipolytica strains of industrial interest, by illustrating the search for new genetic backgrounds and by providing data about the main publicly available strains in yeast collections worldwide. At last, it will focus on exemplifying how advances in engineering tools can leverage a better biotechnological exploitation of the natural biodiversity of Yarrowia lipolytica and of other yeasts from the Yarrowia clade.

CRISPR-Cas9 technology allows the modification of DNA sequences in vivo at the location of interest. Although CRISPR-Cas9 can produce genomic changes that do not require DNA vector carriers, the use of transgenesis for stable integration of DNA coding for gene-editing tools into plant genomes is still the most used approach and it can generate unintended transgenic integrations, while Cas9 prolonged expression can increase cleavage at off-target sites. In addition, the selection of genetically modified cells from millions of treated cells, especially plant cells, is still challenging. These downfalls can be avoided with the delivery of preassembled ribonucleoprotein complexes (RNPs) composed of purified recombinant enzyme Cas9 and in vitro- transcribed guide RNA (gRNA) molecules in a protoplast system. We therefore aimed to develop the first DNA-free protocol for gene-editing in maize and introduced RNPs into their protoplasts with PEG 4000. We performed effective transformation of maize protoplasts using different gRNAs sequences targeting the inositol phosphate kinase gene and applying two different exposure times to RNPs. Using low-cost Sanger sequencing protocol, we observed an efficiency rate of 0.85 up to 5.85%, which is equivalent to DNA-free protocols used in other plant species. A positive correlation was displayed between exposure time and mutation frequency. Mutation frequency was gRNA sequence- and exposure time-dependent. In summary, we demonstrated the suitability of RNP transfection as an effective screening platform for gene-editing in maize. This efficient and relatively easy assay method for selection of gRNA suitable for editing of gene of interest will be highly useful for genome editing in maize, since genome size and GC-content are large and high in maize genome, respectively. Nevertheless, the large amplitude of mutations at target site requires scrutiny when checking mutations at off-target sites and potential safety concerns.

Synthetic biology (SynBio) is an interdisciplinary field that has developed rapidly in the last two decades. It involves the design and construction of new biological systems and processes from standardized biological components, networks and synthetic pathways. The goal of Synbio is to create logical forms of cellular control. Biological systems and their parts can be re-designed to carry out completely new functions. SynBio is poised to greatly impact human health, environment, biofuels and chemical production with huge economic benefits. SynBio presents opportunities for the highly agro-based African economies to overcome setbacks that threaten food security: The setbacks are brought about by climate change, land degradation, over-reliance on food imports, global competition, and water and energy security issues among others. With appropriate regulatory frameworks and systems in place, the benefits of harnessing SynBio to boost development in African economies by far potentially outweigh the risks. Countries that are already using GMOs such as South Africa and Kenya should find the application of SynBio seamless, as it would be a matter of expanding the already existing regulations and policies for GMO use.

This mini-review provides an overview of traditional, emerging, and future applications of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and discusses how genome editing tools can be used to overcome current challenges in all these applications. It also describes currently available tools and how these can be further developed, and takes current legislation into account. Genome editing tools are necessary for the construction of strains for new applications and products, but can also play a crucial role in traditional ones, such as food and probiotics, as a research tool for understanding mechanistic insights and discovering new properties. Traditionally, recombinant DNA techniques for LAB have strongly focused on being food-grade, but they lack throughput and the number of genetically tractable strains is still rather limited. Further tool development in this direction will enable rapid construction of multiple mutants or mutant libraries on a genomic level in a wide variety of LAB strains. We also propose an iterative Design-Build-Test-Learn workflow cycle for LAB cell factory development based on systems biology, with “cell factory” expanding beyond its traditional meaning of production strains and making use of high-throughput genome editing tools to advance LAB understanding, applications and strain development.