Guo Tianxia

Author    Correspondence author
Field Crop, 2025, Vol. 8, No.   
Received: 01 Jan., 1970    Accepted: 01 Jan., 1970    Published: 26 Aug., 2025

Recently, high-oleic rapeseed oil has become increasingly popular in the market. After all, this oil is both healthy and easy to use. Last year, our laboratory began to think about how to use CRISPR, the "gene scissors", to improve rapeseed varieties. To be honest, we just wanted to give it a try at the beginning. I remember that the first time we tried to edit the FAD2 gene, the result was not ideal. Later, we referred to the successful experience of soybeans and adjusted the design of the guide RNA, which gradually made progress. Now, the oleic acid content of several new strains cultivated has indeed increased a lot, and the linoleic acid content has also decreased. However, when it comes to practical application, it still has to pass the regulatory and consumer acceptance. Speaking of CRISPR technology, it does have great potential in rapeseed breeding. This time we mainly improved the fatty acid synthesis pathway, but the same method should be able to be used for other traits. Of course, the technology itself is still being improved, just like an experiment failed last year due to off-target effects. But in any case, this at least provides a new way to improve the quality of rapeseed oil.