Researchers from Sun Yat-sen University and partners reviewed how CRISPR and metabolic engineering can turn rice, maize, and wheat into production platforms for high-value lipids. A rice line boosted seed oil from 2.33% to 11.72% dry weight by expressing Arabidopsis DGAT1 and knocking out starch and aleurone regulators. Maize lines with embryo-preferred WRI1 raised oil by 30.6% without hurting vegetative growth. The same approach is being used to make omega-3 fatty acids, industrial wax esters, and insect pheromones in cereal seeds. That matters for sustainability because omega-3s usually come from marine fish, waxes from petroleum or jojoba, and pheromones from chemical synthesis. If cereal crops can produce these compounds at scale, they could reduce pressure on wild fisheries and replace some fossil-based inputs. The review is in Advanced Biotechnology. It is early-stage, and field performance, processing costs, and regulatory hurdles remain open questions.
