Cranfield, United Kingdom
July 23, 2025
Researchers at Cranfield University are working on a new project to speed up genetic engineering in plants, accelerating innovations that will improve crops around the world. Focusing on the tomato plant, the project will develop pollen and direct seed transformation protocols, which will bypass the bottleneck of working with tissue culture.
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Current methods to genetically engineer tomatoes and other crops involve using tissue culture, which is time consuming and requires skilled expertise to work in sterile conditions. However, there is a lack of standardised protocols for many crops and some species are proven to be resistant to regeneration.
This project aims to move the genetic engineering process away from tissue culture regeneration by directly transforming tomato seeds and pollen. Using magnetic nanoparticles to introduce DNA modification in pollen, as well various treatments to increase the metabolic activity of seeds and make them more amenable to genetic modification, the project team aims to develop a faster and more efficient way to genetically engineer plants.
Two ‘reporter’ genes will be used by the researchers to track the success of the seed and pollen transformation methods. These do not have a function in the growth of the tomatoes, but scientists will be able to easily trace if they have been passed into the tomato genome, thus proving the effectiveness of the method.
Once proven, the method could be used to improve yields, adapt plants to become more resilient to biotic and abiotic stress and to improve disease resistance. It opens the door to introducing multiple changes in one process. There is also the possibility of the method being used on other crops which are difficult to regenerate through tissue culture such as legumes, and it could accelerate the breeding of perennial species including trees. The new methodologies could also be used to transform crops to produce high-value compounds or biomaterials, bringing possibilities for the biopharmaceutical industry.
The project is funded with nearly £500,000 from the Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) Programmable Plants opportunity space, which focuses on how plants can help solve challenges such as food insecurity, climate change and environmental degradation. It builds on Cranfield’s expertise and facilities within the Centre for Soil, Agrifood and Biosciences.
Dr Sofia Kourmpetli, Senior Lecturer in Plant Sciences, is the ARIA R&D Creator leading this project and said: “This exciting project has the potential to break down long-standing barriers in crop engineering. We want to create a future where advanced genetic tools are scalable, efficient and widely accessible, giving researchers and breeders the ability to improve crops around the world. Ultimately this will lead us to better food security and sustainability.”
The project Fast-Track Crop Improvement: Breaking Free from Tissue Culture will run for 18 months.
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