Applications of CRISPR Technologies Across the Food Supply Chain

Abstract

The food industry faces a 2050 deadline for the advancement and expansion of the food supply chain to support the world's growing population. Improvements are needed across crops, livestock, and microbes to achieve this goal. Since 2005, researchers have been attempting to make the necessary strides to reach this milestone, but attempts have fallen short. With the introduction of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) and CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins, the food production field is now able to achieve some of its most exciting advancements since the Green Revolution. This review introduces the concept of applying CRISPR-Cas technology as a genome-editing tool for use in the food supply chain, focusing on its implementation to date in crop, livestock, and microbe production, advancement of products to market, and regulatory and societal hurdles that need to be overcome.

Plant protein ingredients with food functionality potential

“…Gene editing technologies such as CRISPR/Cas9 are being used to improve crop yields and enhance resistance to drought and disease (Brandt & Barrangou 2019). Apples, mushrooms and potatoes that resist enzymatic browning have the potential to reduce food waste, and anti‐nutrients could be reduced or eliminated with gene editing (Arora & Narula 2017).…”

Exploration of Plant-Microbe Interactions for Sustainable Agriculture in CRISPR Era

“…Targeted genetic modifications can be accomplished through several ways, but three meganucleases (or site-specific nucleases (SSNs) or site-directed nucleases (SDN)), are the most commonly used recently that consist of transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), and CRISPR/Cas (Cas, CRISPR-associated) system, [62]. Genome editing by ZNFs and TALENs is based on the ability of DNA-binding domains that can specifically recognize almost any target DNA sequence (Figure 3B,C).…”

“…Therefore, the GE ability of ZNF/TALEN is mainly governed by the DNA-binding affinity and specificity of the assembled zinc-finger and TALE proteins [61]. The CRISPR/Cas system is adventitious compared to ZFNs and TALENs in terms of simple designing, versatility, cost-effective, higher efficiency, multiplexing, and specificity [62]. Since the adaptation of CRISPR/Cas systems for GE in eukaryotes [63,64,65,66], it has emerged as the most popular GE tool that is also described as nature’s toolbox and ‘magic wand’ of genome engineering [67,68].…”

CRISPR/Cas9: Nature's gift to prokaryotes and an auspicious tool in genome editing

“…Porcine endogenous retroviruses, which have a significant impact on human health, have been removed from pigs by using CRISPR technology. Similarly, the proteins ovalbumin and ovomucoid present in the egg white of chickens, which are responsible for causing certain allergic responses in individuals, have been removed by the CRISPR knockout system . The CRISPR system has also been used in identifying foodborne pathogens, which in turn provides an increased understanding of strains evolution as well as their epidemiological insights.…”