From flavonoids to stilbenoids: CRISPR unlocks a new path for natural resveratrol
en-GBde-DEes-ESfr-FR

From flavonoids to stilbenoids: CRISPR unlocks a new path for natural resveratrol

02/04/2025 TranSpread

Resveratrol has garnered attention for its potential anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, and heart-health benefits. However, natural sources such as grapes and peanuts yield only small amounts, and current production methods face significant limitations. Extracting resveratrol from plants is inefficient, chemical synthesis often leads to impurities, and microbial fermentation struggles to properly fold proteins. In plants, resveratrol competes with flavonoids, another class of compounds. Because the flavonoid pathway typically dominates, resveratrol production remains minimal. These challenges have hindered the widespread availability of resveratrol for both research and commercial use. To overcome these obstacles, researchers sought a way to redirect the plant’s metabolic pathways to increase resveratrol yields.

On October 9, 2024, scientists from Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Shanghai Jiao Tong University published a pivotal study (DOI: 10.1093/hr/uhae268) in Horticulture Research, where they used CRISPR/Cas9 to edit grape cells (Vitis davidii). By targeting the CHS2 gene, which is responsible for flavonoid production, they reduced the competition for biochemical precursors, resulting in a more than 400% increase in resveratrol production. This study provides the first evidence that CRISPR can be used to shift metabolic pathways to favor valuable compounds like resveratrol, while also establishing grape cell cultures as a promising production platform, avoiding the issues of microbial systems and whole plant extraction.

The research team used CRISPR to create two mutant grape cell lines by editing the CHS2 gene. This gene plays a pivotal role in flavonoid production. Their detailed analysis confirmed that the genetic edits successfully redirected the cells' metabolic resources towards resveratrol synthesis. The most effective mutant line (MT1) produced 4.22 μg of resveratrol per gram of fresh cells, a fourfold increase compared to unedited cells. The derivative of resveratrol, piceid, saw an even greater increase of 5.3-fold. Genetic analysis confirmed that the CHS2 gene was almost completely knocked out (99.87% mutation rate), leading to a significant downregulation of flavonoid pathway genes, while resveratrol production genes became more active. The researchers also verified that the edits were precise, with no unintended effects on other genes. Remarkably, the position of the genetic edit was crucial — modifications closer to the start of the gene (the 5' region) led to more complete disruption of flavonoid production. Over a 40-day period, cell cultures maintained stable resveratrol production, suggesting this method could be scaled up for industrial use.

“These results provide a roadmap for using precision gene editing to turn plant cells into efficient factories for health-promoting compounds,” said corresponding author Dr. Chengchun Lai. “By understanding and manipulating the competition between metabolic pathways, we've developed a more sustainable way to produce resveratrol that avoids the pitfalls of current methods. This approach could be adapted to enhance the production of other rare but valuable plant molecules.”

This breakthrough has the potential to change the landscape of resveratrol production for multiple industries. Nutraceutical and pharmaceutical companies may adopt this cell-based method to produce purer and more sustainable resveratrol for use in supplements and medicines. The food industry could more economically incorporate resveratrol into functional foods. Agriculturally, this technique may offer new methods for breeding crops with enhanced beneficial compounds without relying on traditional genetic modification. Moreover, the principles developed in this study could be applied to the production of other valuable plant-derived compounds that are currently difficult to obtain. Future research will focus on optimizing culture conditions to increase yields further and explore the scalability of this method for commercial production. As demand for plant-based bioactive compounds continues to rise, biotechnological advancements like these will play a key role in meeting this need.

###

References

DOI

10.1093/hr/uhae268

Original Source URL

https://doi.org/10.1093/hr/uhae268

Funding information

This work was founded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (32302284), Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province, China (2021 J05091), High Quality Development “5511” Collaborative Innovation Project between Fujian and Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (XTCXGC2021014), and Fujian Provincial Department of Science and Technology of Special Public-funded Projects (2021R1032009).

About Horticulture Research

Horticulture Research is an open access journal of Nanjing Agricultural University and ranked number one in the Horticulture category of the Journal Citation Reports ™ from Clarivate, 2023. The journal is committed to publishing original research articles, reviews, perspectives, comments, correspondence articles and letters to the editor related to all major horticultural plants and disciplines, including biotechnology, breeding, cellular and molecular biology, evolution, genetics, inter-species interactions, physiology, and the origination and domestication of crops.

Paper title: CRISPR/Cas9-mediated CHS2 mutation provides a new insight into resveratrol biosynthesis by causing a metabolic pathway shift from flavonoids to stilbenoids in Vitis davidii cells
Attached files
  • Phenotypes of mutant cell lines and determination of target metabolites at different culture durations. (A) Phenotypes and microscopic observations of CHS2 mutant cell lines. Determination of (B) flavonoids, (C) anthocyanins, (D) proanthocyanindins, (E) resveratrol, and (F) piceid.
02/04/2025 TranSpread
Regions: North America, United States, Asia, China
Keywords: Science, Agriculture & fishing, Life Sciences

Disclaimer: AlphaGalileo is not responsible for the accuracy of content posted to AlphaGalileo by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the AlphaGalileo system.

Testimonials

For well over a decade, in my capacity as a researcher, broadcaster, and producer, I have relied heavily on Alphagalileo.
All of my work trips have been planned around stories that I've found on this site.
The under embargo section allows us to plan ahead and the news releases enable us to find key experts.
Going through the tailored daily updates is the best way to start the day. It's such a critical service for me and many of my colleagues.
Koula Bouloukos, Senior manager, Editorial & Production Underknown
We have used AlphaGalileo since its foundation but frankly we need it more than ever now to ensure our research news is heard across Europe, Asia and North America. As one of the UK’s leading research universities we want to continue to work with other outstanding researchers in Europe. AlphaGalileo helps us to continue to bring our research story to them and the rest of the world.
Peter Dunn, Director of Press and Media Relations at the University of Warwick
AlphaGalileo has helped us more than double our reach at SciDev.Net. The service has enabled our journalists around the world to reach the mainstream media with articles about the impact of science on people in low- and middle-income countries, leading to big increases in the number of SciDev.Net articles that have been republished.
Ben Deighton, SciDevNet

We Work Closely With...


  • BBC
  • The Times
  • National Geographic
  • University of Cambridge
  • iesResearch
Copyright 2025 by AlphaGalileo Terms Of Use Privacy Statement