Tel Aviv University team edits over 1,300 tomato plants, each with a different gene group targeted

What was demonstrated

A Tel Aviv University news release, dated June 2025, describes a CRISPR method that starts from leaf tissue rather than seeds and can target thousands of genes at once. The researchers created over 1,300 tomato plants, each with edits in a different gene group. The release reports significant changes in traits including sweetness and nutrient use. It gives no numerical effect sizes, and it does not state the field or greenhouse conditions or the number of replicates.

Why it matters

If the method works as the release describes, breeders could test many gene groups in one tomato population rather than one gene at a time. This is an interpretation of the release, not a finding it reports.

Caveats

This record relies on a university news release. The release links to a Nature Communications article (article ID s41467-025-59280-6). That link redirects to a publisher login page, so the paper, its DOI and its effect sizes are not confirmed here.
The release reports significant changes in sweetness and nutrient use but gives no numerical effect sizes, so the size of those changes is unknown from this source.
Creating plants with edits is not the same as releasing a crop. Yield, stability across seasons and regulatory status for the edited lines are not covered by this record.

Technology profiles

Gene-edited crops

Sources

university press release
Precision agriculture: Israeli scientists refine tomato traits with CRISPR
Eilon Shani, Amichai Berman, Itay Mayrose et al.. Tel Aviv University (Edmond J. Safra Center for Bioinformatics), Jun 2025.

Last reviewed 21 Oct 2026.