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 29 results

Traits related to biotic stress tolerance

Highly significant reduction in susceptibility to fire blight, caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora. Apple is one of the most cultivated fruit crops throughout the temperate regions of the world.
( Pompili et al., 2020 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Università degli Studi di Udine
Fondazione Edmund Mach, Italy
Viral resistance: reduced viral accumulation and amelioration of virus-induced symptoms by Potato Virus Y.
(Lucioli et al., 2022)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
ENEA
Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), Italy
National Agricultural Research and Innovation Centre, Hungary
Viral resistance: resistance to Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV). Delayed or reduced accumulation of viral DNA and abolished or attenuated symptoms of infection.
(Ali et al., 2015)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia
Fungal resistance: increased resistance to Erysiphe necator, causing powdery mildew in grape cultivar. The pathogen infects all green tissues and berries, leading to dramatic losses in yield and berry quality.
(Malnoy et al., 2016)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Fondazione Edmund Mach, Italy
ToolGen Inc.
Institute for Basic Science
Seoul National University
South Korea
Bacterial resistance: Increased resistance to Erwinia amylovora, causing fire blight disease that threatens the apple and a wide range of ornamental and commercial Rosaceae host plants.
(Malnoy et al., 2016)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Fondazione Edmund Mach, Italy
ToolGen Inc.
Institute for Basic Science
Seoul National University, South Korea
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
Oomycete resistance: resistance against downly mildew disease (DM). DM is caused by Peronospora belbahrii, a worldwide threat to the basil industry.
(Laura et al., 2023)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Research Centre for Vegetable and Ornamental Crops
Institute of Agricultural Biology and Biotechnology
Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection
Research Centre for Olive Fruit and Citrus Crops
University of Pisa
Center for Agricultural Experimentation and Assistance
Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources, Italy
Viral resistance: improved resistance to yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV).
(Tashkandi et al., 2018)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University
4700 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia
Fungal resistance: increased resistance to Phytophthora infestans, causing late blight disease, the most serious disease of potato crops worldwide. The pathogen can infect the leaves, stems and tubers of potato plants. An unprotected field can be completely destroyed in several days.
(Kieu et al., 2021)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden
University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Traits related to abiotic stress tolerance

Improved salt stress resistance. Significant increase in the shoot weight, the total chlorophyll content, and the chlorophyll fluorescence under salt stress. Also high antioxidant activities coincided with less reactive oxygen species (ROS).
( Shah Alam et al., 2022 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Zhejiang University, China
Taif University, Saudi Arabia
Alexandria University, Egypt

Traits related to improved food/feed quality

Reduce allergen proteins. Structural and metabolic proteins, like α-amylase/trypsin inhibitors are involved in the onset of wheat allergies (bakers' asthma) and probably Non-Coeliac Wheat Sensitivity (NCWS).
( Camerlengo et al., 2020 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
University of Tuscia, Italy
Rothamsted Research, UK
Impasse Thérèse Bertrand-Fontaine, France
Altered gliadin levels resulting in improved end-use quality and reduced gluten epitopes associated with celiac disease. Gliadins are important for wheat end-use traits.
( Liu et al., 2023 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
China Agricultural University, China
Research Centre for Cereal and Industrial Crops, Italy
Increased amylose content in the seeds, thus a lower Glycemic Index (GI) value. Low GI rice is preferred to avoid a sudden rise in glucose in the bloodstream. Starch with a high GI threatens healthy individuals to get diabetes type II and proves extremely harmful for existing diabetes type II patients.
( Jameel et al., 2022 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Jamia Millia Islamia
International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, India
King Saud University, Saudi Arabia
Mutant cell lines doubled the accumulation level of anthocyanins biosynthesized. The production of these important pigments was stabilized over time.
( D'Amelia et al., 2022 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
National Research Council of Italy
University of Naples Federico II
Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Italy

Traits related to increased plant yield and growth

Root growth angle regulation, among the most important determinants of root system architecture. Root growth angle controls water uptake capacity, stress resilience, nutrient use efficiency and thus yield of crop plants.
( Kirschner et al., 2021 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
University of Bonn
University of Cologne
Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research Gatersleben
Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Germany
University of Bologna, Italy

Increased grain yield and quality.
( Luo et al., 2024 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Guizhou University, China
King Saud University, Saudi Arabia
Plant architecture: high tillering and reduced height.
(Butt et al., 2018)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia
Altered root architecture with increased tillers and total grain weight.
( Rahim et al., 2023 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Quaid-e-Azam University
National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC)
The University of Haripur, Pakistan
King Saud University, Saudi Arabia
Nile University
Ain Shams University, Egypt
Chonnam National University, Korea
Improved spikelet number per panicle led to increased grain yield per plant.
( Ludwig et al., 2023 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines
University of Pavia, Italy

Traits related to industrial utilization

Conversion of hulled into naked barley.
( Gasparis et al., 2018 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
National Research Institute
Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW), Poland
Accelerated domestication of African rice landraces by improving domestication traits such as sheed shattering, lodging and seed yield. The acceleration of the development of high-yield African landrace varieties is important considering that Africa has a strong growing population and prone to food shortage.
( Lacchini et al., 2020 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
University of Milan, Italy
University of Montpellier, France
Removal of methyl iodide emissions. The release of methyl iodide in the athmospere causes ozone depletion and thus represents an important environmental threat.
( Carlessi et al., 2021 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
PlantLab
Institute of Life Sciences
Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna
University of Pisa
University of Milan, Italy
Manipulation of self-incompatibility.
( Zhang et al., 2020 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Aarhus University
DLF Seeds A/S, Denmark

Traits related to herbicide tolerance

Bispyribac sodium
( Butt et al., 2020 )

PE
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia
Herboxidiene
( Butt et al., 2019 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia
Universite Paris-Saclay, France
Bispyribac sodium
( Butt et al., 2017 )
SDN2
CRISPR/Cas
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia
Agricultural Research Center, Egypt
Rice University, USA

Traits related to product color/flavour

Color modification due to reduced anthocyanin accumulation.
( Klimek-Chodacka et al., 2018 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
University of Agriculture in Krakow, Poland
East Carolina University
University of Maryland, USA
Anthocyanin-rich and pigmented sweet oranges.
( Salonia et al., 2022 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Research Centre for Olive Fruit and Citrus Crops
University of Catania
Research and Innovation Centre Trento, Italy

Traits related to storage performance

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