Genome-editing techniques are promising tools in plant breeding. To facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of the use of genome editing, EU-SAGE developed an interactive, publicly accessible online database of genome-edited crop plants as described in peer-reviewed scientific publications.
The aim of the database is to inform interested stakeholder communities in a transparent manner about the latest evidence about the use of genome editing in crop plants. Different elements including the plant species, traits, techniques, and applications can be filtered in this database.
Regarding the methodology, a literature search in the bibliographic databases and web pages of governmental agencies was conducted using predefined queries in English. Identifying research articles in other languages was not possible due to language barriers. Patents were not screened.
Peer-reviewed articles were screened for relevance and were included in the database based on pre-defined criteria. The main criterium is that the research article should describe a research study of any crop plant in which a trait has been introduced that is relevant from an agricultural and/or food/feed perspective. The database does neither give information on the stage of development of the crop plant, nor on the existence of the intention to develop the described crop plants to be marketed.
This database will be regularly updated. Please contact us via the following webpage in case you would like to inform us about a new scientific study of crops developed for market-oriented agricultural production as a result of genome editing

Genome Editing Technique

Displaying 39 results

Traits related to biotic stress tolerance

Resistance to parasitic weed: Striga spp. The parasitic plant reduces yields of cereal crops worldwide.
(Hao et al., 2023)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Pennsylvania State University, USA
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Senegal
Kenyatta University, Kenya

Fungal resistance: Reduced susceptibility to the powdery mildew pathogen (Oidium neolycopersici), a world-wide disease threatening the production of greenhouse- and field-grown tomatoes.
(Santillán Martínez et al., 2020)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Wageningen University &
Research, The Netherlands
Fungal resistance: increased resistance against powdery mildew, a destructive disease that threatens cucumber production globally.
(Dong et al., 2023)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China
University of California Davis, USA
Wageningen University &
Research, The Netherlands
Bacterial resistance: Resistance to Pseudomonas syringae DC3000, a widespread pathogen that causes bacterial speck disease of tomato.
(Ortigosa et al., 2019)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CNB-CSIC),Spain

Viral resistance: Reduced viral load and symptoms after bean yellow dwarf virus (BeYDV) infection.
(Baltes et al., 2015)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
University of Minnesota
The Ohio State University, USA
Institute of Biophysics ASCR, Czech Republic
Significantly enhanced resistance to V. dahliae, and furthermore also to Verticillium albo-atrum and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (Fol), despite severe growth defects.
( Hanika et al., 2021 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Wageningen University &
Research, The Netherlands
Fungal resistance: Reduced susceptibility to necrotrophic fungi. Necrotrophic fungi, such as Botrytis cinerea and Alternaria solani, cause severe damage in tomato production.
(Ramirez Gaona et al., 2023)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Wageningen University &
Research, The Netherlands
Takii &
Company Limited, Japan
Fungal resistance: Enhanced resistance against powdery mildew, caused by Oidium neolycopersici, which is a major concern for the productivity of tomato plants.
(Li et al., 2024)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
University of Torino, Italy
Wageningen University &
Research, The Netherlands
Shanxi Agricultural University, China
Fungal resistance: Resistance against the blast fungus Mangaporthe oryzae.
(Bundó et al., 2024)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Campus Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científcas (CSIC), Spain
Academia Sinica No 128, Taiwan
Bacterial resistance: resistance against banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW) disease, caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum. BXW forms a great threat to banana cultivation in East and Central Africa.
(Ntui et al., 2023)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Kenya
Fungal resistance: effective reduction of susceptibility against downy mildew by increasing salicylic acid levels. The pathogen can devastate individual vineyards and in some cases also affect production from entire regions.
(Giacomelli et al., 2023)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Research and Innovation Centre
Fondazione Edmund Mach, Italy
Enza Zaden
Hudson River Biotechnology, The Netherlands
Viral resistance: increased control on viral pathogen Banana streak virus (BSV). The BSV integrates in the banana host genome as endogenous BSV (eBSV). When banana plants are stressed, the eBSV produces infectious viral particles and thus the plant develops disease symptoms.
(Tripathi et al., 2019)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Kenya
University of California, USA
Fungal resistance: increased tolerance to Late Blight disease, which could be devastating to tomato yields.
(Maioli et al., 2024)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
University of Torino, Italy
Ingeniero Fausto Elio/n, Spain
Wageningen University &
Research,
Bacterial resistance: Enhanced resistance to Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum, causing Bananas Xanthomonas wilt (BXW). Overall economic losses caused by Xanthomonas campestris were estimated at 2-8 billion USD over a decade.
(Tripathi et al., 2021)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Kenya

Traits related to abiotic stress tolerance

Increased tolerance to salinity stress. Development of lines with reduced inositol hexakisphosphate (IP6) content may enhance phosphate and mineral bioavailability. ICP6 is a major storage form of phosphate in cereal grains.
( Vicko et al., 2020 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic
Increased tolerance to drought trough reducing water loss. Tuber development.
( Gonzales et al., 2020 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands
Centro Nacional de Biotecnología – CSIC
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Spain
Drought tolerance.
( Njuguna et al., 2018 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Ghent University
Center for Plant Systems Biology, Belgium
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya
Increased drought-avoidance strategy.
( Maioli et al., 2024 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
University of Torino, Italy
Ingeniero Fausto Elio/n, Spain
Wageningen University &
Research, The Netherlands

Traits related to improved food/feed quality

Production of opaque seeds with depleted starch reserves. Reduced starch content and increased amylose content. Accumulation of multiple sugars, fatty acids, amino acids and phytosterols.
( Baysal et al., 2020 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
University of Lleida-Agrotecnio Center
Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Spain
Royal Holloway University of London, UK
Reduced gluten content. Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disorder triggered in genetically predisposed individuals by the ingestion of gluten proteins.
( Sánchez-León,et al., 2017 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Instituto de Agricultura Sostenible (IASCSIC), Spain
University of Minnesota, USA
Lowering phytate synthesis in seeds. Phytate is an anti-nutritient.
( Vlčko and Ohnoutková, 2020 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic

Traits related to increased plant yield and growth

Altered spike architecture.
( de Souza Moraes et al., 2022 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands
Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Norwich Research Park, UK
Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Germany
Reduced seed shattering. Seed shattering is one of the main constraints on grain production in African cultivated rice, which causes severe grain losses during harvest.
( Ning et al., 2023 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
China Agricultural University, China
Africa Rice Center, Benin
Increased yield: plants produced more tillers and grains than azygous wild-type controls and the total yield was increased up to 15 per cent.
(Holubova et al., 2018)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Palacký University
Centre of the Region Haná for Biotechnological and Agricultural Research, Czech Republic
Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) Gatersleben, Germany
Increased total kernel number or kernel weight.
( Kelliher et al., 2019 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Research Triangle Park
University of Georgia, USA
Syngenta Crop Protection, The Netherlands

Traits related to industrial utilization

Generate self-compatible diploid potato lines for the application of efficient breeding methods.
( Eggers et al., 2021 )
SDN3
CRISPR/Cas
Solynta
Wageningen University &
Research, The Netherlands
Early heading: in regions with short growing seasons, early maturing varieties to escape frost damage are required.
(Sohail et al., 2022)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
China National Rice Research Institute
Northern Center of China National Rice Research Institute
Zhejiang A&
F University, China
Mir Chakar Khan Rind University
Agriculture Research System Khyber, Pakistan
Ministry of Agriculture, Bangladesh
Agriculture Research Center, Egypt
Establishment of maternal haploid induction. Doubled haploid technology is used to obtain homozygous lines in a single generation. This technique significantly accelerates the crop breeding trajectory.
( Zhong et al., 2022 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
China Agricultural University, China
Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands
Establishment of maternal haploid induction. Doubled haploid technology is used to obtain homozygous lines in a single generation. This technique significantly accelerates the crop breeding trajectory.
( Zhong et al., 2022 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
China Agricultural University, China
Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands
Parthenocarpy: seedless tomatoes
(Nieves-Cordones et al., 2020)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura-CSIC, Spain
Generation of a new thermo-sensitive genic male sterile rice line for hybrid breeding of indica rice.
( Barman et al., 2019 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
China National Rice Research Institute, China
Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, Bangladesh
Increasing cross over frequency. Cross over formation during meiosis is essential for crop breeding to introduce favourable alleles controlling important traits from wild relatives into crops.
( de Maagd et al., 2020 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Wageningen University &
Research, The Netherlands

Traits related to product color/flavour

Albino phenotype.
( Syombua et al., 2021 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
University of Nairobi, Kenya
University of Missouri
Iowa State University
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, USA
Colour modification. Purple tomatoes.
( Cermak et al., 2015 )
SDN2
TALENs
University of Minnesota, USA
Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Czech Republic
Colour modification. Purple tomatoes.
( Cermak et al., 2015 )
SDN2
CRISPR/Cas
University of Minnesota, USA
Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Czech Republic

Traits related to storage performance

Delayed fruit ripening.
( Santo Domingo et al., 2024 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG)
Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio)
Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentaries (IRTA), Spain
Improved strawberry fruit firmness. The postharvest shelf life is highly limited by the loss of firmness, making firmness one of the most important fruit quality traits.
( López-Casado et al., 2023 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Universidad de Málaga
Universidad de Córdoba, Spain
Reduced fruit flesh browning. The browning of eggplant berry flesh after cutting has a negative impact on fruit quality for both industrial transformation and fresh consumption.
( Maioli et al., 2020 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
University of Torino, Italy
Instituto de Biologica Molecular y Celular de Plantas (IBMCP)
Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain
Extended root shelf-life, which decreases its wastage.
( Mukami et al., 2023 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Kenyatta University
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture Technology
Pwani University Kilifi, Kenya