Genome editing: researchers at McGill University have successfully modified oat DNA

Researchers at McGill University have successfully modified oat DNA using genome editing technology — a world first. These modifications pave the way for crops better adapted to the Canadian climate, they claim.

Professor Jaswinder Singh, who led the study, says these advances make it possible, among other things, to adjust the flowering time of seeds, which would increase production of this cereal native to Europe.

He explains that the window for growing oats here is relatively small, and that there are generally production losses associated with early snowfall. At the same time, excessively warm weather also leads to losses, he says.

The researchers used the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing method. Unlike some GMOs, this technique does not introduce foreign DNA, preferring to modify the genetic code directly.

“It’s the same plant that is used in different ways, for example, to attenuate the effect of a gene or even cut it out of the DNA. So we’re still dealing with the same DNA from the same species of the same plant,” summarized Salah Zoghlami, director of agronomic affairs at the Grain Producers of Quebec.

GMOs are more commonly used to take advantage of other organisms, “for example, bringing a disease-resistance gene from a crop like corn into oats,” he explained.

CRISPR-Cas9, which arrived in 2012, allows for the isolation of a portion of a genomic sequence and its “extraction” to replace it with a new one, adjusted to the needs of the particular crop. Singh explains that, in this way, only the targeted portion of the gene changes, which allows for faster and more precise processing, and prevents unforeseen modifications to the rest of the genome.

Since 2023, foods modified in this way no longer require a government risk assessment, as long as no foreign DNA is used. Modified products also do not have to be identified when they enter the market.

“This really motivated researchers working on this technology (…) and, in 2024, there were the first tests of modified wheat in Canadian fields,” said Mehtab Sign, doctoral student and lead author of the article.

Oats are an important crop in the country, with nearly three million acres sown, according to Statistics Canada. Integrating these technological advances into oats would help the Canadian economy and exports, according to Singh.

“It can help give these crops better agronomic performance, whether in terms of yield or disease resistance, or greater resilience to climate change,” explained Zoghlami.

He also maintains that the climate is one of the reasons why oat production has been declining in Quebec for the past five years, with producers preferring corn or soybeans, which are more adaptable.

Nearly 80 per cent of the province’s crops are dedicated to these two crops, leaving approximately 52,000 acres dedicated to Quebec oats, he states. Most of Canada’s oat production is concentrated in the Prairies.

A majority of the oats produced in the country are exported. Canada is even the world’s leading exporter of high-quality oats, according to the agricultural organization Cereals Canada. It estimates that the industry will generate nearly $4.2 billion in 2022 and adds that approximately 81 per cent of Canadian exports go to the United States.

Canada, says Singh, is a leader in terms of regulation of genome editing, which will allow the country’s farmers to easily benefit from modified oats when models adapted to the local climate are developed.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews