b"Plant scientist Vittoria Brambilla plants the gene-edited rice plants on May 13, 2024, in Italy. Source: Vittoria BrambillaVANDALS DESTRUCTION HAS A SILVER LININGA ROLLERCOASTER YEAR FOR ITALYS FIRST GENE-EDITED CROP.BY: MARCEL BRUINSI n Europe, rice is produced in eight EUpermission to set up a trial in the open fieldon which we were performing our research Member States (IT, ES, EL, PT, FR,to see how resistant the gene-edited plantsin the laboratory. Therefore, we had already BG, RO, HU), with Italy representingwould be to a fungal infection. developed all the tools to manipulate this 50% and Spain 30% of EU rice area andThat first field trial with gene-editedspecies in vitro and also by molecular tools. production. But the crop is suffering moreplants was planted in May 2024 and metOur research interest in the lab was actu-and more from a nasty fungus: rice blastwith great excitement by scientists, bothally not the fungus that causes rice blast but (Pyricularia oryzae). It evolves rapidly andItalian and international. Unfortunately,flowering time. Nevertheless, we thought has gained resistance to certain fungicides.about five weeks after planting, vandalsthat to communicate these technologies to The fungus infects the leaves of the ricepulled out the rice plants and destroyed thestakeholders, we needed to apply them to plant, and when it is flowering, the blast cantrial. Luckily, Brambilla was able to savespecific problems. We asked farmers which spread to the neck and infect and destroyabout 100 of the 400 plants. And recentlywas the biggest problem for rice cultivation the seeds. The pathogen can lead to a 50%the seeds on these remaining plants wereand most of them agreed on the fact that reduction of rice production. So, the crop isharvested and are now in a safe place to beit was rice blast. We teamed up with plant in dire need of solutions, and help is comingused in next year's trial. pathologists and together we developed not only from conventional plant breedingthese gene-edited rice lines for improving but also from gene editing. SEEDWORLDEUROPE(SWE):the resistance to rice blast. We picked a rice Seed World Europe sat down withVITTORIA, WHY HAVE YOU CHOSENvariety that is very popular in Italy, as its Vittoria Brambilla, a plant scientist at theRICE, AND THIS FUNGUS AS YOURgrain makes excellent risotto. University of Milano, Italy. She and her col- TARGET FOR YOUR GENE-EDITING leagues worked together with a group of UKRESEARCH? SWE: HOW DO RICE FARMERS IN ITALY plant pathologists, developed gene-editedVITTORIA BRAMBILLA (VB): Actually,FEEL ABOUT YOUR INNOVATION?rice at the University of Milan and obtainedwe didn't choose rice. This was the speciesVB: Farmers that are aware of these tech-12ISEED WORLD EUROPEISEEDWORLD.COM/EUROPE | NOVEMBER 2024"