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

Sdn Type

Displaying 34 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
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
Fungal resistance: increased resistance against the fungus Pyricularia oryzae, causing rice blast, one of the most destructive diseases affecting rice worldwide.
(Távora et al., 2022)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Federal University of Juiz de Fora
Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology
Catholic University of Brasilia
Catholic University of Dom Bosco, Brazil
Agricultural Research Center for International Development (CIRAD)
University of Montpellier
Montpellier SupAgro, France
Viral resistance: increased resistance to infection with the potato virus Y (PVY) and tolerance to salt and osmotic stress. PVY is one of the most economically important potato pathogens
(Makhotenko et al., 2019)
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Russia Moscow State University, Russia
Doka Gene Technologies Ltd, USA
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: 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: 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
Bacterial resistance: enhanced disease resistance to Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis infection.
(García-Murillo et al., 2023)

CRISPR/Cas
Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute, Mexico
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
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,

Traits related to abiotic stress tolerance

Higher tolerance to salt and osmotic stress through reduced stomatal conductance coupled with increased leaf relative water content and Abscisic acid (ABA) content under normal and stressful conditions.
( Bouzroud et al., 2020 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Université Mohammed V de Rabat, Morocco
Université de Toulouse, France
Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Brazil
Improved drought tolerance.
( D'Incà., 2024 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
University Roma Tre
Universit `a di Trieste
IOAG-BIOTECC.R. Casaccia
Sapienza University of Rome
University of Milano
Roma Tre Section
Instituto Nazionale Biostrutture e Biosistemi (INBB)
National Biodiversity Future Center, Italy
Increased salt-tolerance.
( Antonova et al., 2024 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology (IPAE)
N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR)
Institute of Cytology and Genetics (ICG), Russia
Enhanced drought tolerance.
( Wang et al., 2023 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Mexico
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

Glossy sheat phenotype.
( Gerasimova et al., 2023 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Vavilov Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR)
Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia

Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Germany
Important metabolic changes affecting tomato fruit quality. Reduced contents of the anti-nutrient oxalic acid.
( Gago et al., 2017 )
SDN1
ZFN
University of Algarve, Portugal
Centre for Research and Technology Hellas
Technological Educational Institution of Crete, Greece
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
Improved digestibility of kafirins, which increases the grain nutritional value.
( Elkonin et al., 2023 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Federal Centre of Agriculture Research of South-East Region
Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics, Russia
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
Improved kafirin digestibility, which increases the grain nutritional value.
( Elkonin et al., 2023 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Federal Centre of Agriculture Research of South-East Region
Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics – Subdivision of the Ufa Federal Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia
Reduced content of anti-nutritional factors in soybean seeds, leading to improved digestibility.
( Figliano et al., 2023 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
UEL - Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Portugal

Traits related to increased plant yield and growth

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
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
Combine agronomically desirable traits with useful traits present in wild lines. Threefold increase in fruit size and a tenfold increase in fruit number. Fruit lycopene accumulation is improved by 500% compared with the widely cultivated S. lycopersicum.
( Zsögön et al., 2018 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Universidade Federal de Viçosa
Universidade de São Paulo Paulo, Brazil
University of Minnesota, USA
Universität Münster, Germany
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

Traits related to industrial utilization

Confer male and female sterility to prevent the risk of trasgene flow from transgenic plants to their wild relatives.
( Shinoyama et al., 2020 )
SDN1
TALENs
Fukui Agricultural Experiment Station
Institute of Agrobiological Sciences
National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO)
Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)
Yokohama City University, Japan
Altai State University, Russia
Pollen Self-Elimination, which prevents pollen transgene dispersal.
( Wang et al., 2023 )
SDN1
CRISPR/Cas
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS)
Northwest A&
F University
Hainan Yazhou Bay Seed Lab
Henan Jinyuan Seed Industry Co., China
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico
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

Traits related to product color/flavour

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