Genome editing for reduction of bitterness and for production of medicinal terpenes in Cichorium species

Cichorium varieties are cultivated both as leafy vegetables as well as industrial root crop for extraction of the food fibre inulin. Cichorium is a typical European crop and grown on a relatively small scale. However, due to its distinctive taste and health benefits and its capacity to produce multiple bioactive compounds, Cichorium has great potential if varieties could be optimised for these properties by breeding. In recent years it has been demonstrated in several laboratories that chicory is very amenable to genome editing. Different protocols were developed and implemented to adapt bitterness as well as to accumulate medicinal terpenes, generating potential socio-economic benefits over the entire value chain from farmers to consumers, as well as for the environment. In addition, scientific knowledge on chicory biology, particularly on the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites was significantly increased. This demonstrates how genome editing can contribute to breeding of niche crops such as Cichorium, which have relatively little investment leverage for extensive breeding programs.