June 2025: Mayrose and colleagues: Precision agriculture: Israeli scientists refine tomato traits with CRISPR

Researchers at Tel Aviv University developed a CRISPR-based gene editing method that allows simultaneous editing of entire gene families in tomatoes.

The study, published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications, was led by Prof. Eilon Shani and PhD student Amichai Berman, in collaboration with Prof. Itay Mayrose, Edmond J. Safra member, and other researchers from the School of Plant Sciences and Food Security at Tel Aviv University, as well as Dr. Osnat Yanai from the Israeli company NetaGenomiX. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing also participated in the study.

The researchers developed a method to dramatically scale up CRISPR editing in plants, enabling simultaneous targeting of thousands of genes while overcoming the challenge of genetic redundancy using a novel algorithm that created CRISPR libraries. This innovation enabled the researchers to alter traits like fruit shape, taste, and resistance to pests.

Using this method, the researchers created over 1,300 tomato plants, each with edits in a different gene group, observing significant changes in traits like sweetness and nutrient use. Importantly, the method, which starts from leaf tissue rather than seeds, could be applied to other crops as well.

The technology, licensed to Israeli Agri-tech company NetaGenomiX, aims to develop non-genetically modified, climate-resilient crops to enhance food security. Future research will expand to other crops like rice.

The study was featured in online newspapers YNET, YNETNEWS ,Israeleconomico PHYS  and Genengnews.