Kawall Katharina
Fachstelle Gentechnik und Umwelt, Frohschammerstr. 14, 80807 Munich, Germany.
Plants (Basel). 2021 Oct 22;10(11):2259. doi: 10.3390/plants10112259.
The use of site-directed nucleases (SDNs) in crop plants to alter market-oriented traits is expanding rapidly. At the same time, there is an on-going debate around the safety and regulation of crops altered with the site-directed nuclease 1 (SDN-1) technology. SDN-1 applications can be used to induce a variety of genetic alterations ranging from fairly 'simple' genetic alterations to complex changes in plant genomes using, for example, multiplexing approaches. The resulting plants can contain modified alleles and associated traits, which are either known or unknown in conventionally bred plants. The European Commission recently published a study on new genomic techniques suggesting an adaption of the current GMO legislation by emphasizing that targeted mutagenesis techniques can produce genomic alterations that can also be obtained by natural mutations or conventional breeding techniques. This review highlights the need for a case-specific risk assessment of crop plants derived from SDN-1 applications considering both the characteristics of the product and the process to ensure a high level of protection of human and animal health and the environment. The published literature on so-called market-oriented traits in crop plants altered with SDN-1 applications is analyzed here to determine the types of SDN-1 application in plants, and to reflect upon the complexity and the naturalness of such products. Furthermore, it demonstrates the potential of SDN-1 applications to induce complex alterations in plant genomes that are relevant to generic SDN-associated risks. In summary, it was found that nearly half of plants with so-called market-oriented traits contain complex genomic alterations induced by SDN-1 applications, which may also pose new types of risks. It further underscores the need for data on both the process and the end-product for a case-by-case risk assessment of plants derived from SDN-1 applications.
在农作物中使用定点核酸酶（SDN）来改变面向市场的性状的情况正在迅速增加。与此同时，围绕定点核酸酶1（SDN-1）技术改造作物的安全性和监管问题的辩论仍在进行。SDN-1的应用可用于诱导多种基因改变，范围从相当“简单”的基因改变到使用例如多重化方法对植物基因组进行的复杂改变。由此产生的植物可能含有修饰的等位基因和相关性状，这些在传统培育的植物中是已知或未知的。欧盟委员会最近发表了一项关于新基因组技术的研究，建议调整当前的转基因生物立法，强调靶向诱变技术可以产生也可通过自然突变或传统育种技术获得的基因组改变。本综述强调，对于来自SDN-1应用的作物，需要根据具体情况进行风险评估，同时考虑产品和过程的特征，以确保对人类、动物健康和环境的高水平保护。本文分析了关于用SDN-1应用改造的作物中所谓面向市场性状的已发表文献，以确定植物中SDN-1应用的类型，并思考此类产品的复杂性和自然性。此外，它展示了SDN-1应用诱导与一般SDN相关风险相关的植物基因组复杂改变的潜力。总之，发现近一半具有所谓面向市场性状的植物含有由SDN-1应用诱导的复杂基因组改变，这也可能带来新型风险。它进一步强调了对于来自SDN-1应用的植物进行逐案风险评估时，需要有关过程和最终产品的数据。
