Published in ‘Nature Reviews Bioengineering‘: the paradox of apply weakened viruses j improve crops. People and animals can benefit from virus-based vaccines and gene therapies, but crops cannot. This is the paradox exposed by an international research group led by the Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology of Plants (IBMCP)mixed center Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV)in an article published in the prestigious journal Nature Reviews Bioengineering. The work proposes a roadmap for applying weakened viruses to improve the qualities of crops, making them more resistant to extreme and changing climatic conditions, or for producing nutritional supplements to improve human nutrition.. According to the authors, it is a more efficient and sustainable alternative than using agrochemicals, and faster than using traditional breeding methods.
The article is part of the series on the future of food featuring two of the industry’s leading magazines, Nature reviews Bioengineering and natural foodpresent the most notable advances in food production and establish a roadmap for future developments that achieve global food security and promote environmental sustainability. “Our article presents points of view that invite reflection and confront readers with paradoxical situations,” reveals Fabio Pasin, CSIC researcher at the IBMCP and lead author of the work.
The authors propose that viral vectorslocated in weakened viruses that do not harm plantscan be used to introduce specific genes into crops, achieving improvements in their agronomic characteristics. These viral vectors could be used to induce plant flowering and accelerate harvests; developing improved crop varieties; adapt the architecture of factories to facilitate their adaptation to mechanization; improving drought tolerance; or, among other things, produce metabolites that are beneficial to human health.
“This viral vectors can be used for precise genome editing using approaches that rely on CRISPR-Cas components achieve heritable improvements in agronomic traits, such as grain length and weight in wheat or fruit color in tomatoes” explains Pasin. “In addition, applications based on viral vectors enable temporary improvements that, due to their speed of development and validation, offer an attractive alternative to the use of agrochemicals for more efficient and sustainable agricultural production systems,” says the researcher of the CSIC.
People, livestock and pets, but not plants
Despite these advantages, the authors point out several paradoxes: it is considered safe to administer recombinant viruses for vaccination in humans (for example against covid19) and vaccination in animals, but there is no registered use in agriculture. People and pets can benefit from gene therapies based on recombinant viruses, but not crops. And recombinant viruses can be released into the environment for the immunization of wild animals such as foxes, raccoons or coyotes, allowing the control of rabies in Europe and the United States, but their use in agriculture is not yet allowed, even not in high risk environments. civil.
Researchers from IBMCP, KU Leuven Plant Institute (Belgium), University of Florida (USA) and Kyung Hee University (South Korea) reveal the main challenges for the application of viral vectors in plants, such as the implementation of measures to prevent the uncontrolled spread to prevent it. distribution in the environment, in addition to regulatory approval and public acceptance. This process would be accelerated by the use of recombinant viruses implementing methods to ensure their biocontainment and by prioritizing crops used for the production of livestock feed, by obtaining materials such as textile fibers and biofuels, or for ornamental purposes. they enforce.
Research at the Institute of Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology (IBMCP)
In plants the technology of viral vectors It is in an advanced stage of research and its effectiveness has been demonstrated under experimental conditions. In the Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology of Plants (IBMCP) optimize technological platforms that allow accelerating the development and validation of agricultural applications based on viral vectors, implementing synthetic biology approaches compatible with future industrial-scale production. They also investigate the use of viral vectors to improve the agronomic characteristics of crops such as tomatoes.