Rice farmers watching their crops wither under a relentless sun may soon have new options, thanks to researchers in Saudi Arabia who have figured out how to slip large genetic instructions into plants without breaking the plant's DNA first.
Scientists at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, known as KAUST, have developed a new tool that can place entire genes into precise spots inside rice and tobacco plants. The work, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, tackles a decades-old problem that has held back plant biotechnology: how to add big chunks of genetic information accurately, without the method causing damage.
"Future advances in plant biotechnology will depend not only on our ability to edit genes, but also on our ability to add entirely new genetic instructions," said Professor Magdy Mahfouz, a bioengineering professor at KAUST who led the study.
Gene editing tools like CRISPR have gotten very good at making small, targeted changes to DNA. But adding entirely new genes, especially large ones, has remained difficult. Many useful traits that scientists want to give future crops — such as better survival during heat waves, droughts, or disease outbreaks — require inserting multiple genes that work together as a team.
The KAUST team got around this problem by using a special kind of genetic element called R2 retrotransposons. These are genetic sequences that can insert themselves into genomes without the usual cutting and pasting that other methods require. By borrowing this natural mechanism, the researchers found they could place full-length genes exactly where they wanted them in tobacco and rice plants.
The method matters because it gives scientists greater control. When new genetic material lands in the wrong spot, it can cause unexpected problems or simply fail to work. By targeting specific locations, researchers can test new traits more reliably and build more complex features into plants over time.
Looking ahead, the same approach could help scientists design plants that produce medicines, vaccines, or other valuable compounds on a large scale. Instead of manufacturing these products in factories, companies might one day grow them in fields of specially engineered plants — a concept called plant-based biomanufacturing.
The research team, led by first author Zahir Ali and senior author Professor Mahfouz, cautions that the work is still in early stages. But by proving the method works in two different plants, they have opened a new avenue for agricultural biotechnology research around the world.