John Innes Centre guidelines for working with precision-bred plants

Abstract

Introduction of the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 20231 by the United Kingdom (UK) government provides new opportunities to utilise genome editing (GE) within crop research and breeding in England. While the regulatory framework for precision-bred plants in England sets out notification requirements, it does not provide detailed methodologies for compliance. As a centre of international excellence in plant science, genetics and microbiology, at the John Innes Centre (JIC)2 we have addressed this gap and developed detailed guidelines and strategies for assessing precision bred status for GE plants. Here, we share these guidelines with the community, which include: (i) our strategy for testing compliance of crop lines with precision bred status, (ii) measures to reduce the risk of precision bred plants crossing with neighbouring commercial crops, and (iii) a detailed risk assessment document for conducting precision bred field trials.

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