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To meet the increasing global demand for food, feed, fibre and other plant‐derived products, a steep increase in crop productivity is a scientifically and technically challenging imperative. The CropBooster‐P project, a response to the H2020 call 'Future proofing our plants', is developing a roadmap for plant research to improve crops critical for the future of European agriculture by increasing crop yield, nutritional quality, value for non‐food applications and sustainability. However, if we want to efficiently improve crop production in Europe and prioritize methods for crop trait improvement in the coming years, we need to take into account future socio‐economic, technological and global developments, including numerous policy and socio‐economic challenges and constraints. Based on a wide range of possible global trends and key uncertainties, we developed four extreme future learning scenarios that depict complementary future developments. Here, we elaborate on how the scenarios could inform and direct future plant research, and we aim to highlight the crop improvement approaches that could be the most promising or appropriate within each of these four future world scenarios. Moreover, we discuss some key plant technology options that would need to be developed further to meet the needs of multiple future learning scenarios, such as improving methods for breeding and genetic engineering. In addition, other diverse platforms of food production may offer unrealized potential, such as underutilized terrestrial and aquatic species as alternative sources of nutrition and biomass production. We demonstrate that although several methods or traits could facilitate a more efficient crop production system in some of the scenarios, others may offer great potential in all four of the future learning scenarios. Altogether, this indicates that depending on which future we are heading toward, distinct plant research fields should be given priority if we are to meet our food, feed and non‐food biomass production needs in the coming decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world needs more than double its current agricultural productivity by 2050 to produce enough food and feed, as well as to provide feedstock for the bioeconomy. These future increases will not only need to be sustainable but without comprommising the nutritional quality, and ideally also need to decrease greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon sequestration to help mitigate the consequences of global climate change. These challenges could be tackled by developing and integrating new future‐proof crops into our food system. The H2020 CropBooster‐P project sets out plant‐centered breeding approaches guided by a broad socio‐economic and societal support. First, the potential approaches for breeding crops with sustainably increased yields adapted to the future climate of Europe are identified. These crop‐breeding options are subsequently prioritized and their adoption considered by experts across the agri‐food system and the wider public, taking into account environmental, economic and other technical criteria. In this way, a specific research agenda to future‐proof our crops was developed, supported by an eventual implementation plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global demand for providing nutritious, sustainable, and safe diets for a 10 billion population by 2050 while preserving affordability, reducing environmental impacts, and adapting to climate change will require accelerating the transition to sustainable agri‐food systems. A plausible way to help tackle these challenges is by developing new plant varieties that have improved crop yield, plant nutritional quality, and sustainability (or resilience) traits. However, stakeholders, consumers, and citizens' concerns and appreciation of future‐proofing crops and the acceptability of new plant breeding strategies are not well‐established. These groups are actors in the agri‐food systems, and their views, values, needs, and expectations are crucial in helping to co‐design fair, ethical, acceptable, sustainable, and socially desirable policies on new plant breeding techniques (NPBTs) and the transition to sustainable agri‐food systems. In this study, we engaged with consumer experts and societal stakeholders to consider their perceptions, expectations, and acceptability of improving crops and NPBTs for future‐proofing the agri‐food systems. Our analysis points to a need for governments to take a proactive role in regulating NPBTs, ensure openness and transparency in breeding new crop varieties, and inform consumers about the effects of these breeding programmes and the risks and benefits of the new crop varieties developed. Consumer experts and societal stakeholders considered these strategies necessary to instil confidence in society about NPBTs and accelerate the transition to sustainable agri‐food systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genome editing helps to develop plant varieties that address future agricultural challenges such as climate change adaptation, resource efficiency and sustainable productivity. Nevertheless, associated aspects relating, besides others, to the regulation of genome editing, intellectual property rights and potential environmental and health aspects lead to fierce discussions within the European Union. In these discussions, values and moral aspects play a decisive role. To support and set the stage for an open‐minded dialogue, the communication behaviour and needs of specific stakeholder groups has been analysed by means of two online surveys. The surveys considered sources and channels used for information sourcing and dissemination, conveyed content and relevant target audiences. In addition, the degree of trust of stakeholders in different information sources was assessed. Stakeholders included representatives from academia, civil society organisations (including environmental and consumer organisations), journalists, the farming community, the seed and plant breeding sector and policymakers across Europe. Our analysis suggests that, in general, a high level of trust is associated with representatives from academia, and that safety‐related aspects, transparency and sustainability are considered very important topics across the different stakeholder groups. In addition, social media seem to play a subordinate role for inter‐stakeholder communication but is of higher relevance for reaching out to the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crop breeding is one of the main tools which can assist in future‐proofing food systems for more sustainable outcomes. In order to ensure priorities are aligned with the needs and wants of food system actors, it is essential to engage with key stakeholders to understand preferences on plant breeding solutions. This study presents results from a series of online focus groups conducted with agricultural production related stakeholders (i.e. farmers and farmer representatives, policymakers and NGOs) regarding the potential for crop improvement to future‐proof European food systems. Stakeholders shared concern around climate change and environmental impacts (particularly drought and heat stress), and general agreement about the need to develop resilient crops which combine multiple positive attributes, while reducing trade‐offs and negative externalities. Stakeholders also prioritized plant breeding solutions for areas where they felt they had little agency, and existing alternative solutions, such as improving input use efficiency, or altering diets to be considered where these are available. This highlights the need for the crop breeding community to focus its attentions on the 'most hard to fix' issues, where in‐field measures are currently not offering viable solutions, to maximize acceptance and adoption by agricultural production stakeholders. It also highlights that consideration of trade‐offs, within plant and within a broader agri‐food context, must be integrated into crop breeding research and development, with trade‐off analysis an explicit component of breeding research. Understanding broader agri‐food system knock‐on effects of plant innovation is a non‐trivial challenge requiring interdisciplinary research and close partnerships with food system stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most reliable and practicable measure in assuring coexistence in respect to pollen-mediated gene flow from genetically modified (GM) to conventional maize (Zea mays L.) is an isolation distance separating GM and non-GM fields. Therefore, we tested distances between 24 and 102 m at three sites in northern Germany using a field orientation representing a worst case scenario concerning wind direction. During the 3 yr of field trials the highest levels of gene flow occurred at the site and year with the longest flowering synchrony and the strongest wind blowing constantly from the GM to the non-GM field. It was shown that the GM content of a neighboring non-GM maize field is mainly determined by wind speed and direction as well as by non-GM maize field depth. Based on the maximum outcrossing data obtained it can be concluded that for non-GM maize fields being 200 m deep or more an isolation distance of 50 m is sufficient to keep the GM content of the total fields grain harvest below the European Union (EU) labeling threshold of 0.9%. However, non-GM grain maize fields with smaller field depth require larger isolation distances or additional coexistence measures. In most cases discarding 6 m of the GM maize facing non-GM maize field edge has proven to be such a valuable measure. In silage maize production 50 m isolation distance is adequate even for non-GM maize field depths down to 50 m. We recommend flexible separation distances in dependence on non-GM maize field depth to comply with EU coexistence requirements. doi: 10.2135/cropsci2009.11.0641

We report on a compact Nd:YAG amplifier emitting a maximum pulse energy of 14 mJ. By amplifying a passively Q-switched oscillator ([M.sup.2] < 1.2) a good beam quality of [M.sup.2] [approximately equal to] 1.7 was achieved. The amplifier is diode pumped by an 8 bar diode stack of 800 W power and a nonimaging optic. This optic homogenizes the pump light and transfers it into a 5 mm diameter core doped rod with a centrally neodymium doped region of 3 mm and a samarium doped YAG cladding. We show that this cladding reduces parasitic effects in the laser rod compared to an undoped YAG cladding. Finally, we compare the compact amplifier with an amplifier, which is mode selectively pumped by a fiber coupled pump diode. OCIS codes: 140.3280, 140.3480, 140.3540, 080.4298.

A decade ago, the CRISPR/Cas system has been adapted for genome editing. Since then, hundreds of organisms have been altered using genome editing and discussions were raised on the regulatory status of genome edited organisms esp. crops. To date, many countries have made decisions on the regulatory status of products of genome editing, by exempting some kinds of edits from the classical GMO regulation. However, the guidance differs between countries even in the same region. Several countries are still debating the issue or are in the progress of updating guidance and regulatory systems to cover products of genome editing. The current global situation of different regulatory systems is putting a harmonized framework on genome-edited crops in the far future. In this update, we summarize the current developments in the field of regulation concerning edited crops and present a short insight into perception of genome editing in the society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An approach for scaling end-pumped laser crystals to higher pump comparable to transversally pumped systems is presented.

One approach to ensuring coexistence of genetically modified (GM) and conventional maize (Zea mays L.) is reducing pollen-mediated gene flow. Field experiments were conducted in 2005 at four sites in Germany to compare a tall sunflower crop (Helianthus annuus L.) vs. a short clover-grass crop (Trifolium pratense L. and Lolium spp.) with regard to their ability to reduce outcrossing when grown as buffer between pollen donor and recipient maize plots. Three different maize test systems were used: (i) quantification of a donor transgene via real-time polymerase chain reaction (rt PCR), (ii) a nontransgenic test system based on a dominant kernel color trait, and (iii) a molecular marker test system based on rt PCR quantification of a cultivar-specific nontransgenic DNA sequence. We found that the three test systems yielded comparable results concerning buffer-crop effectiveness and edge effects. There was no difference in outcrossing rates when comparing the sunflower vs. clover-grass buffer crop. Outcrossing rates downwind beyond 12 m sunflower as buffer crop within adjacent 12-m-wide recipient maize were 4.2, 11.7, and 3.8% for the GM maize, the kernel color, and the molecular marker test system compared with clover-grass with 4.3, 9.6, and 3.6%. Pronounced edge effects were detected at the edges of recipient maize fields. Based on the present study, growing sunflower as a tall crop between GM and non-GM maize cannot be recommended as an appropriate coexistence measure.

CRISPR/Cas enables a targeted modification of DNA sequences. Despite their ease and efficient use, one limitation is the potential occurrence of associated off-target effects. This systematic review aims to answer the following research question: Which factors affect the occurrence of off-target effects caused by the use of CRISPR/Cas in plants? Literature published until March 2019 was considered for this review. Articles were screened for relevance based on pre-defined inclusion criteria. Relevant studies were subject to critical appraisal. All studies included in the systematic review were synthesized in a narrative report, but studies rated as high and medium/high validity were reported separately from studies rated as low and medium/low or unclear validity. In addition, we ran a binary logistic regression analysis to verify five factors that may affect the occurrence of off-target effects: (1) Number of mismatches (2) Position of mismatches (3) GC-content of the targeting sequence (4) Altered nuclease variants (5) Delivery methods. In total, 180 relevant articles were included in this review containing 468 studies therein. Seventy nine percentage of these studies were rated as having high or medium/high validity. Within these studies, 6,416 potential off-target sequences were assessed for the occurrence of off-target effects. Results clearly indicate that an increased number of mismatches between the on-target and potential off-target sequence steeply decreases the likelihood of off-target effects. The observed rate of off-target effects decreased from 59% when there is one mismatch between the on-target and off-target sequences toward 0% when four or more mismatches exist. In addition, mismatch/es located within the first eight nucleotides proximal to the PAM significantly decreased the occurrence of off-target effects. There is no evidence that the GC-content significantly affects off-target effects. The database regarding the impact of the nuclease variant and the delivery method is very poor as the majority of studies applied the standard nuclease SpCas9 and the CRISPR/Cas system was stably delivered in the genome. Hence, a general significant impact of these two factors on the occurrence of off-target effects cannot be proved. This identified evidence gap needs to be filled by systematic studies exploring these individual factors in sufficient numbers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Products of genome editing as the most promising "New Plant Breeding Technology" (NPBT) have made the transition from the lab to the market in a short time. Globally, research activities employing genome editing are constantly expanding and more and more plants with market-oriented traits are being developed, and companies have already released the first genome edited crops to the market. Few countries, most of which are located in the Americas, have adapted legislations to these technologies or released guidelines supporting the use of genome editing. Other countries are debating the path to come either because there is no clarity on the legal classification or due consensus is hampered by a renewed GMO debate. In recent years (2017−2020), eight countries have introduced guidelines clarifying the legal status of genome edited products and many of those are actively committed to international harmonization of their policies. In this publication we give an overview on the current and potentially future international regulatory environment and an update on plants derived by genome editing with market-oriented traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Commission has asked EU Member States for comments on a French law notification demanding plant varieties produced with the help of in vitro mutagenesis have to be eliminated from the national catalog of approved varieties because of missing legal authorization deemed required by genetic engineering law. Primary target are herbicide-tolerant Clearfield oilseed rape varieties. The scientific reasoning is questionable, traceability is illusive, and law enforcement is likely to be impossible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collisional energy transfer of NH[sub 2] in its electronically excited state à ²A[sub 1] is investigated with time-resolved Fourier transform emission spectroscopy. NH[sub 2] is produced by photodissociation of NH[sub 3] and relaxed to low rotational levels before excitation into the electronically excited state. Originating from collisions with NH[sub 3], rate constants for total collisional removal and state-to-state rate constants for rotational energy transfer within υ[sub 2] = 4, K[sub a] = 1 with collision induced changes of Delta;K[sub c] ≤ 3 are determined. The latter rate constants are fitted with several scaling laws. Among these, those based on the energy corrected sudden approximation work best. An approximate potential curve for the anisotropic part of the interaction potential is derived and verified with cross sections obtained with straight line trajectories. The rotational energy transfer originates primarily from collisions with small impact parameters. The observed rate constants for total collisional removal are in accordance with the collision complex model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: CRISPR/Cas9; genome edited plants; biosafety; agriculture; policy and legislation It provides a general overview about the delivery of genome editing tools into plants and stresses special challenges associated with genome editing in clonally propagated crops with potato as a practical example. The authors present the different methods of performing DNA-free genome editing and current applications of DNA-free genome editing in the plant sector by providing a list of DNA-free genome applications based on a systematic literature search. Furthermore, an overview about the current and potential future delivery methods of DNA-free genome editing reagents is provided and a comprehensive overview on the current regulation of genome editing in a global perspective is given. [Extracted from the article]

The European Commission (EC)requested the European Food and Safety Authority (EFSA) for an opinion on genetically modified organisms for agri‐food uses and developed through synthetic biology (SynBio) and their implications for risk assessment methodologies. In preparing this opinion EFSA has asked JKI to perform a horizon scan of plant SynBio developments with application in the agri‐food sector. Relevant SynBio cases were identified using a search strategy including scientific publications, expert interviews and a collation of companies. The outcome of this scan supports part of the terms of references of the EC mandate and EFSA in defining relevant case studies to consider during the drafting of the scientific opinion. This publication is linked to the following EFSA Supporting Publications article: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2903/sp.efsa.2020.EN-1664/full [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional genetic engineering techniques generate modifications in the genome via stable integration of DNA elements which do not occur naturally in this combination. Therefore, the resulting organisms and (most) products thereof can unambiguously be identified with event-specific PCR-based methods targeting the insertion site. New breeding techniques such as genome editing diversify the toolbox to generate genetic variability in plants. Several of these techniques can introduce single nucleotide changes without integrating foreign DNA and thereby generate organisms with intended phenotypes. Consequently, such organisms and products thereof might be indistinguishable from naturally occurring or conventionally bred counterparts with established analytical tools. The modifications can entirely resemble random mutations regardless of being spontaneous or induced chemically or via irradiation. Therefore, if an identification of these organisms or products thereof is demanded, a new challenge will arise for (official) seed, food, and feed testing laboratories and enforcement institutions. For detailed consideration, we distinguish between the detection of sequence alterations – regardless of their origin – the identification of the process that generated a specific modification and the identification of a genotype , i.e., an organism produced by genome editing carrying a specific genetic alteration in a known background. This article briefly reviews the existing and upcoming detection and identification strategies (including the use of bioinformatics and statistical approaches) in particular for plants developed with genome editing techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to best assess potential health, environmental and other impacts of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and how to interpret the resulting evidence base have been long-standing controversial issues in the EU. As a response, transparency and inclusiveness became a major focus of regulatory science activities in the GMO impact area. Nevertheless, nearly three decades of controversies resulted in a heavily polarized policy environment, calling for further efforts. Against this backdrop the EU funded project GRACE explored the value of evidence synthesis approaches for GMO impact assessment and developed an evidence synthesis framework with a strong emphasis on openness, stakeholder engagement, transparency, and responsiveness to tackle regulatory science challenges. This framework was tested and implemented in the course of 14 systematic reviews or maps conducted on selected review questions spanning potential health, environmental, and socioeconomic impacts of GMOs. An inclusive development and prioritisation of review questions is of key importance in evidence synthesis as it helps to provide a better link between stakeholder demands and concerns and policy relevant outcomes. This paper, therefore, places a particular focus on the stakeholder involvement strategy developed and experiences gathered during this particular step in the course of the GRACE project. Based on this experience, possible lessons for future engagement exercises in highly controversial fields of regulatory science are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microalgae comprise a biodiverse group of photosynthetic organisms that reside in water sources and sediments. The green microalgae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was adopted as a useful model organism for studying various physiological systems. Its ability to grow under both photosynthetic and heterotrophic conditions allows efficient growth of non-photosynthetic mutants, making Chlamydomonas a useful genetic tool to study photosynthesis. In addition, this green alga can grow as haploid or diploid cells, similar to yeast, providing a powerful genetic system. As a result, easy and efficient transformation systems have been developed for Chlamydomonas, targeting both the chloroplast and nuclear genomes. Since microalgae comprise a rich repertoire of species that offer variable advantages for biotech and biomed industries, gene transfer technologies were further developed for many microalgae to allow for the expression of foreign proteins of interest. Expressing foreign genes in the chloroplast enables the targeting of foreign DNA to specific sites by homologous recombination. Chloroplast transformation also allows for the introduction of genes encoding several enzymes from a complex pathway, possibly as an operon. Expressing foreign proteins in the chloroplast can also be achieved by introducing the target gene into the nuclear genome, with the protein product bearing a targeting signal that directs import of the transgene-product into the chloroplast, like other endogenous chloroplast proteins. Integration of foreign genes into the nuclear genome is mostly random, resulting in large variability between different clones, such that extensive screening is required. The use of different selection modalities is also described, with special emphasis on the use of herbicides and metabolic markers which are considered to be friendly to the environment, as compared to drug-resistance genes that are commonly used. Finally, despite the development of a wide range of transformation tools and approaches, expression of foreign genes in microalgae suffers from low efficiency. Thus, novel tools have appeared in recent years to deal with this problem. Finally, while C. reinhardtii was traditionally used as a model organism for the development of transformation systems and their subsequent improvement, similar technologies can be adapted for other microalgae that may have higher biotechnological value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the extension of continuous scan Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) for time-resolved FTS (TS-FTS). Characteristics of the FTS; Realization of the data acquisition and experimental setup; Examples of time-resolved measurements; Signal-to-noise behavior of TS-FTS.

Simple Summary: Our climate is changing and the world population is growing to an estimated 10 billion people by 2050. This may cause serious problems in global food supply, protection of the environment and safeguarding Earth's biodiversity. To face these challenges, agriculture will have to adapt and a key element in this will be the development of "future-proof" crops. These crops will not only have to be high-yielding, but also should be able to withstand future climate conditions and will have to make very efficient use of scarce resources such as water, phosphorus and minerals. Future crops should not only sustainably give access to sufficient, nutritious, and diverse food to a worldwide growing population, but also support the circular bio-based economy and contribute to a lower atmospheric CO2 concentration to counteract global warming. Future-proofing our crops is an urgent issue and a challenging goal that only can be realized by large-scale, international research cooperation. We call for international action and propose a pan-European research and innovation initiative, the CropBooster Program, to mobilize the European plant research community and all interested actors in agri-food research and innovation to face the challenge. The realization of the full objectives of international policies targeting global food security and climate change mitigation, including the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Climate Agreement COP21 and the European Green Deal, requires that we (i) sustainably increase the yield, nutritional quality and biodiversity of major crop species, (ii) select climate-ready crops that are adapted to future weather dynamic and (iii) increase the resource use efficiency of crops for sustainably preserving natural resources. Ultimately, the grand challenge to be met by agriculture is to sustainably provide access to sufficient, nutritious and diverse food to a worldwide growing population, and to support the circular bio-based economy. Future-proofing our crops is an urgent issue and a challenging goal, involving a diversity of crop species in differing agricultural regimes and under multiple environmental drivers, providing versatile crop-breeding solutions within wider socio-economic-ecological systems. This goal can only be realized by a large-scale, international research cooperation. We call for international action and propose a pan-European research initiative, the CropBooster Program, to mobilize the European plant research community and interconnect it with the interdisciplinary expertise necessary to face the challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State-to-state energy transfer of NH[sub 2] in its excited state A˜ [sup 2]A[sub 1] is investigated with time-resolved Fourier transform emission spectroscopy. Originating from collisions with NH[sub 3], rovibrational energy transfer in NH[sub 2](A˜ [sup 2]A[sub 1]) with energy separations |ΔE|<260 cm[sup -1] and in multiples of ΔEapprox. -1050 cm[sup -1] is observed. Based on the experimental determination of relative transition probabilities, absolute state-to-state rate constants are derived. Collisional changes in the rotational quantum number range from -3 to +4. The analysis of the time dependence of the levels populated by rovibrational energy transfer shows that this variety is not the result of secondary collisions. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systematic reviews represent powerful tools to identify, collect, synthesize, and evaluate primary research data on specific research questions in a highly standardized and reproducible manner. They enable the defensible synthesis of outcomes by increasing precision and minimizing bias whilst ensuring transparency of the methods used. This makes them especially valuable to inform evidence-based risk analysis and decision making in various topics and research disciplines. Although seen as a "gold standard" for synthesizing primary research data, systematic reviews are not without limitations as they are often cost, labor and time intensive and the utility of synthesis outcomes depends upon the availability of sufficient and robust primary research data. In this paper, we (1) consider the added value systematic reviews could provide when synthesizing primary research data on genetically modified organisms (GMO) and (2) critically assess the adequacy and feasibility of systematic review for collating and analyzing data on potential impacts of GMOs in order to better inform specific steps within GMO risk assessment and risk management. The regulatory framework of the EU is used as an example, although the issues we discuss are likely to be more widely applicable.