Cisgenesis is a product designation for a category of
genetically engineered plants. A variety of
classification scheme
In information science and ontology, a classification scheme is the product of arranging things into kinds of things (classes) or into ''groups'' of classes; this bears similarity to categorization, but with perhaps a more theoretical bent, as cl ...
s have been proposed
that order
genetically modified organism
A genetically modified organism (GMO) is any organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. The exact definition of a genetically modified organism and what constitutes genetic engineering varies, with ...
s based on the nature of introduced genotypical changes, rather than the process of genetic engineering.
Cisgenesis (etymology: cis = same side; and genesis = origin) is one term for organisms that have been engineered using a process in which genes are artificially transferred between organisms that could otherwise be conventionally bred.
Genes
In biology, the word gene (from , ; "... Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a b ...
are only transferred between closely related organisms. Nucleic acid sequences must be isolated and introduced using the same technologies that are used to produce transgenic organisms, making cisgenesis similar in nature to transgenesis. The term was first introduced in 2000 by Henk J. Schouten and Henk Jochemsen, and in 2004 a PhD thesis by Jan Schaart of
Wageningen University in 2004, discussing making
strawberries
The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown Hybrid (biology), hybrid species of the genus ''Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The f ...
less susceptible to ''
Botrytis cinerea''.
In
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
, currently, this process is governed by the same laws as transgenesis. While researchers at Wageningen University in the
Netherlands
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, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
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feel that this should be changed and regulated in the same way as conventionally
bred plants, other scientists, writing in
Nature Biotechnology, have disagreed.
[ In 2012 the ]European Food Safety Authority
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is the agency of the European Union (EU) that provides independent scientific advice and communicates on existing and emerging risks associated with the food chain. EFSA was established in February 2002 ...
(EFSA) issued a report with their risk assessment of cisgenic and intragenic plants. They compared the hazards associated with plants produced by cisgenesis and intragenesis with those obtained either by conventional plant breeding techniques or transgenesis. The EFSA concluded that "similar hazards can be associated with cisgenic and conventionally bred plants, while novel hazards can be associated with intragenic and transgenic plants."
Cisgenesis has been applied to transfer of natural resistance genes to the devastating disease ''Phytophthora infestans
''Phytophthora infestans'' is an oomycete or water mold, a fungus-like microorganism that causes the serious potato and tomato disease known as late blight or potato blight. Early blight, caused by '' Alternaria solani'', is also often called ...
'' in potato and scab
Scab may refer to:
Biology
* Scab, a hard coating on the skin formed during the wound healing reconstruction phase
* scAb, single-chain antibody fragment
Infections and infestations
* Apple scab, an apple tree (genus ''Malus'') fungal disease c ...
('' Venturia inaequalis'') in apple.
Cisgenesis and transgenesis use artificial gene transfer
Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) or lateral gene transfer (LGT) is the movement of genetic material between Unicellular organism, unicellular and/or multicellular organisms other than by the ("vertical") transmission of DNA from parent to offsprin ...
, which results in less extensive change to an organism's genome than mutagenesis
Mutagenesis () is a process by which the genetic information of an organism is changed by the production of a mutation. It may occur spontaneously in nature, or as a result of exposure to mutagens. It can also be achieved experimentally using l ...
, which was widely used before genetic engineering was developed.
Some people believe that cisgenesis should not face as much regulatory oversight as genetic modification created through transgenesis as it is possible, if not practical, to transfer alleles among closely related species even by traditional crossing. The primary biological advantage of cisgenesis is that it does not disrupt favorable heterozygous states, particularly in asexually propagated crops such as potato, which do not breed true to seed. One application of cisgenesis is to create blight resistant potato plants by transferring known resistance loci wild genotypes into modern, high yielding varieties.
The Dutch government has proposed to exclude cisgenic plants from the European GMO Regulation, in view of the safety of cisgenic plants compared to classically bred plants, and their contribution to durable food production.
Related classification scheme
A related classification scheme proposed by Kaare Nielsen is:[
]
Diagram
center, 700px, A diagram comparing the genetic changes achieved through conventional plant breeding, transgenesis and cisgenesis.
References
{{Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering
