Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill (Fifth sitting)

Debate between Katherine Fletcher and Jo Churchill

Tuesday 5th July 2022 Public Bill Committees

[Jo Churchill]

It has to go through the regulatory framework to be defined as precision bred, to ensure that any of those precise changes are changes that could have occurred in nature, because we are describing what would happen in nature.

[Katherine Fletcher]

In nature there will be random deletions continually within the genome, so the idea of sections of DNA being taken out or added in is part of the process.

[Jo Churchill]

I thank my hon. Friend.

Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill (Fifth sitting)

Debate between Katherine Fletcher and Jo Churchill

Committee stage
Tuesday 5th July 2022 Public Bill Committees

[Jo Churchill]

It has to go through the regulatory framework to be defined as precision bred, to ensure that any of those precise changes are changes that could have occurred in nature, because we are describing what would happen in nature.

[Katherine Fletcher]

In nature there will be random deletions continually within the genome, so the idea of sections of DNA being taken out or added in is part of the process.

[Jo Churchill]

I thank my hon. Friend.

Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill (Fourth sitting)

Debate between Katherine Fletcher and Jo Churchill

Committee stage
Thursday 30th June 2022 Public Bill Committees

[Katherine Fletcher]

Q I will be very brief. There were tanks of fish when I was at university and I have seen the distress that sea lice cause to salmon. It is a problem that has been impenetrable to science, so I can see why that is exciting. My question, as someone who is going to practically implement this, is not necessarily about the technique for inserting the change, but about the thing that is concerning most people. How are we absolutely certain that we have made a very specific change and we have not missed a bit or left a bit of rogue DNA in the wrong place? Can you briefly talk about what you would do within Benchmark Genetics to ensure that, in the nicest possible way, you were getting what you had paid for?

Ross Houston: I see what you mean. Of course CRISPR, the technique we are focusing on, is making a double-stranded cut to the genome and allowing the cells’ natural repair mechanisms to repair the cut and either introduce a small deletion or a small change, or possibly insert a synthetic template of DNA, which would essentially be changing the sequence in a slightly more precise way. There are a couple of parts to that.

In terms of the potential for the CRISPR molecule to make cuts elsewhere in the genome—called off-target effects—we would have to be doing some fairly rigorous DNA sequencing of our animals to ensure that we are not detecting any of those off-target effects. My opinion is that we are now getting very good data from research experiments showing that off-target effects are very rare, and as we learn more about the genomes of our species we are able to design the guide RNAs to take to a specific part of the region that is unique and precise. I see that as a very small risk, but also one that it is important to address.

[Jo Churchill]

Q Did I catch you saying that the Scottish Government are funding precision breeding work within your institute?

Ross Houston: Yes. I moved job recently; I was working for a number of years at the Roslin Institute doing academic research together with industry. The Scottish Government centre, the Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre, is funding projects using precision breeding technologies as a research tool with the goal of—