Protein drug production encompasses various methods, among which animal bioreactors are emerging as a transgenic system. Animal bioreactors have the potential to reduce production costs and increase efficiency, thereby producing recombinant proteins that are crucial for therapeutic applications. Various species, including goats, cattle, rabbits, and poultry, have been genetically engineered to serve as bioreactors. This review delves into the analysis and comparison of different expression systems for protein drug production, highlighting the advantages and limitations of microbial, yeast, plant cell, and mammalian cell expression systems. Additionally, the emerging significance of genetically modified chickens as a potential bioreactor system for producing protein-based drugs is highlighted. The avian bioreactor enables the expression of target genes in ovarian cells, resulting in the production of corresponding gene expression products in egg whites. This production method boasts advantages such as a short cycle, high production efficiency, low research costs, and the expression products being closer to their natural state and easier to purify. It demonstrates immense potential in production applications, scientific research, and sustainable development. The utilization of advanced gene editing technologies, such as CRISPR/Cas9, has revolutionized the precision and efficiency of generating genetically modified chickens. This has paved the way for enhanced production of recombinant therapeutic proteins with desired glycosylation patterns and reduced immunogenic responses.

Plant-derived oils provide 20%–35% of dietary calories and are a primary source of essential omega-6 (linoleic) and omega-3 (α-linolenic) fatty acids. While traditional breeding has significantly increased yields in key oilseed crops like soybean, sunflower, canola, peanut, and cottonseed, overall gains have plateaued over the past few decades. Oilseed crops also experience substantial yield losses in both prime and marginal agricultural areas due to biotic and abiotic stresses and shifting agro-climates. Recent genomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomics research has expanded our understanding of the genetic and physiological control of fatty acid biosynthesis and composition. Many oilseed species have inherent stress-combating mechanisms, including transcription factor regulation. Advances in genome editing tools like CRISPR/Cas9 offer precise genetic modifications, targeting transcription factors and binding sites to enhance desirable traits, such as the nutritional profile and chemical composition of fatty acids. This review explores the application of genome editing in oilseed improvement, covering recent progress, challenges, and future potential to boost yield and oil content. These advancements could play a transformative role in developing resilient, nutritious crop varieties essential for sustainable food security in a changing climate.

Huanglongbing (HLB) disease, caused by Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CaLas), severely impacts citrus production, and currently, there is no cure. Developing HLB-resistant or tolerant cultivars is crucial, with modifying defense-related genes being a promising approach to managing HLB. NONEXPRESSOR OF PATHOGENESIS-RELATED GENES 1 (NPR1) is a positive regulator of systemic acquired resistance (SAR), which enhances resistance to pathogens, whereas NONEXPRESSOR OF PATHOGENESIS-RELATED GENES 3 (NPR3) is a negative regulator of SAR. To unambiguously address the role of CsNPR3 in HLB, we introduced mutations into the CsNPR3 gene in sweet orange (Citrus sinensis L. Osbeck) through genome editing and assessed their effects on morphology, physiology, and resistance/tolerance to HLB. Several genome-edited 'Hamlin' sweet orange trees harboring frameshift-inducing insertions or deletions were identified. After confirming the genome editing using Sanger sequencing, selected lines were grafted onto C-146 trifoliate hybrid rootstocks for clonal propagation. The progenies were then infected with CaLas using a no-choice Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP) feeding assay. Evaluation of the genetic and physiological characteristics of CsNPR3-edited citrus trees under greenhouse conditions revealed that the edited trees exhibited greater vigor than the wild-type trees, despite the lack of significant differences in CaLas titers. Although further field evaluation is needed, our findings indicate that CsNPR3 contributes to HLB-caused tree deterioration and demonstrate that editing CsNPR3 can enhance tolerance to HLB.

Large scale cancer genomic studies in patients have unveiled millions of non-coding variants. While a handful have been shown to drive cancer development, the vast majority have unknown function. This review describes the challenges of functionally annotating non-coding cancer variants and understanding how they contribute to cancer. We summarize recently developed high-throughput technologies to address these challenges. Finally, we outline future prospects for non-coding cancer genetics to help catalyze personalized cancer therapy.

Over 40years ago, the 1982 Splicing Life report outlined the two distinctions that have orientated much of the normative and legal landscape of genetic intervention or genome editing since - that of somatic versus germline (or heritable interventions) and medical versus non-medical (or enhancement) applications. During this time, these distinctions have been used to ethically prioritize some areas of research and potential application, such as somatic treatments, while considering others for prohibition, such as germline enhancements. Nevertheless, somatic interventions may also be done for controversial enhancement purposes while some germline interventions may be done with greater prima facie justification (e.g., the enhancement of athletic ability versus the avoidance of Tay-Sachs disease). Even with new somatic treatments that are generally lauded, exemplified with the case of Casgevy, many issues still arise - such as cost and access, particularly salient on a global level. The concerns over a dystopian future of genetic haves and have nots, as a result of enhancement and/or germline interventions, that perhaps may happen, should not distract us from a greater attention to what is happening in the here and now. In this paper, we will highlight the limits of the two distinctions in terms of moving from questions of "should a technology be used" to "how should a technology be used." We argue that an additional focus on vulnerability and marginalization can be useful to support the attempt to better prioritize which interventions should be permitted or prohibited. We show how this can better dovetail with calls for effective (global) governance and reasonable consensus by focusing on the most urgent issues and developing policy accordingly, while leaving aside more abstract issues for further discussion.

Diffuse large B cell lymphomas (DLBCL) are highly aggressive tumors. Their genetic complexity and heterogeneity have hampered the development of novel approaches for precision medicine. Our study aimed to develop a personalized therapy for DLBCL by utilizing the CRISPR/Cas system to induce knockouts (KO) of driver genes, thereby causing cancer cell death while minimizing side effects. We focused on OCI-LY3 cells, modeling DLBCL, and compared them with BJAB cells as controls. Analysis of whole exome sequencing revealed significant mutations in genes like PAX5, CD79B, and MYC in OCI-LY3 cells. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated KO of these genes resulted in reduced cancer cell viability. Subsequent single and dual gRNA targeting of PAX5 mutations inhibited proliferation specifically in OCI-LY3 cells. Moreover, dual gRNA targeting of PAX5 and MYC induced chromosomal rearrangements, reducing cell proliferation substantially. However, targeting single intronic mutations did not affect cell viability, highlighting the importance of disrupting protein function. Targeting multiple mutations simultaneously addresses intra-tumoral heterogeneity, and the transient delivery of CRISPR/Cas9 allows for permanent gene disruption. While challenges such as incomplete editing efficiency and delivery limitations exist, further optimization may enhance therapeutic efficacy. Overall, our findings demonstrate the efficacy of CRISPR/Cas9 in targeting oncogenic mutations, opening avenues for precision medicine in DLBCL treatment.

Recent advances allow the deployment of cluster regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated endonucleases (Cas) system for the targeted mutagenesis in the genome with accuracy and precision for trait improvement in crops. CRISPR-Cas systems have been extensively utilized to induce knockout or frameshift mutations in the targeted sequence of mostly negative regulating genes for wheat improvement. However, most of the reported work has been done in non-commercial varieties of wheat and introgression of edited alleles into breeding population comes with the penalty of unwanted linkage-drag. Wheat yield is controlled by various genes such as positive and negative regulators. The TaD27 gene is described as a negative regulator of shoot branching or tillering and involved in the biosynthesis of strigolactones. In this study, we developed Tad27 knockout mutant lines of an elite wheat cultivar that showed a twofold increase in the number of tillers and 1.8-fold increase in the number of grains per plant. Subsequently, enhancing the grain yield without any morphological penalty in the architecture of the plants. The co-transformation of regeneration enhancing growth regulator, Growth Regulating Factor 4 (GRF4) and its cofactor GRF-Interacting Factor 1 (GIF1), under single T-DNA cassette improved the regeneration efficiency up to 6% of transgenic events from mature embryos of wheat. Our results indicate that the CRISPR-mediated targeted mutagenesis confers the potential to knockout yield-related negative regulators in elite cultivars of wheat that can substantially enhance grain yield per plant and this strategy can be harnessed for the improvement of future wheat.