# Engineering next‐generation crops through CRISPR‐mediated horizontal gene transfer

## TL;DR

Scientists propose using CRISPR to transfer genes from microbes into crops, helping them survive extreme environmental stresses like heat and drought.

## Contribution

The novel approach of CRISPR-mediated horizontal gene transfer (CRISPR-HGT) leverages microbial genes for multi-trait crop resilience.

## Key findings

- CRISPR-HGT uses microbial genes to enhance crop resilience against multiple environmental stresses.
- The framework integrates CRISPR tools and AI to discover and deploy preadapted microbial genes.
- The approach shifts from traditional genome editing to an evolution-guided design for crop improvement.

## Abstract

Crops increasingly face overlapping stresses such as heat, drought, salinity, and pathogens that conventional breeding or genome editing rarely overcome in combination. To address this, we propose CRISPR‐enabled horizontal gene transfer (CRISPR‐HGT) as a programmable framework that recreates the evolutionary process by which plants historically acquired adaptive microbial genes. Microbial genes, refined under extreme environments, provide a naturally preadapted resource for multi‐trait resilience. By integrating tools such as Cas12a, CasΦ, RNA‐targeting, and dCas‐based epigenome editors with AI‐guided microbial gene discovery, CRISPR‐HGT enables modular and inducible stress regulation. This approach shifts genome editing from allelic modification to evolution‐guided design. We outline a conceptual pipeline spanning microbial gene mining to adaptive field deployment, highlighting the ecological, biosafety, and regulatory dimensions, from the European Union's cautious oversight to the UK's product‐based framework. CRISPR‐HGT thus introduces an evolution‐informed paradigm for engineering crops that anticipate stress and sustain yield under climate uncertainty.