Legume Genomics and Genetics 2025, Vol.16, No.2, 72-80 http://cropscipublisher.com/index.php/lgg 78 7.2 Public perception and acceptance of gene-edited soybeans with reduced anti-nutritional factors Not everyone is willing to eat "gene-edited" soybeans, especially when the topic involves "altering DNA", public attitudes are often complex. Especially, modifications like reducing anti-nutritional factors, which seem "beneficial to health", may not necessarily win the trust of everyone. Apart from safety itself, the public's awareness of issues such as ethics and the naturalness of food can also affect acceptance. Moreover, different stakeholders have different positions, values, and understandings of risks, and these differences sometimes make policy-making more challenging (Pillai and Raybould, 2023). Blindly "popularizing science" may not be effective. A more realistic approach is to involve the public and stakeholders earlier to discuss and make decisions together, so as to reduce subsequent resistance (Asin-Garcia et al., 2023). 7.3 Strategies for transparent communication and risk-benefit analysis Biosafety is not a matter of having it approved and then everything is fine. Transparency is the key to truly reassuring the public. According to the suggestions of international organizations, risk assessment, management measures and incident reporting all need to be systematic, open and traceable (Blacksell et al., 2023). Internal assessment by scientists alone is not enough; the participation of stakeholders must also keep up. Frankly speaking about risks and clearly stating benefits, and allowing different groups to participate in the discussion earlier, these practices are more conducive to building trust. Only when ethical aspects are also taken into account, such as who will bear potential risks and how decision-making power is allocated, can the governance of biosafety be truly "complete" (Gillum et al., 2024; Resnik, 2024). 8 Future Directions and Conclusions Just cutting out one gene is not enough to solve all the problems. There are more than one anti-nutritional factor in soybeans. Besides trypsin inhibitors, there are also "familiar faces" such as lectins and allergic proteins. Therefore, researchers have also begun to try the "one more shot" approach, knocking out multiple problematic genes simultaneously in one generation of plants. CRISPR/Cas9 can precisely achieve this. It is not just about cutting one by one, but can launch a "multi-pronged attack" at once-the superimposed editing of multiple genes has become feasible. This approach is significantly faster than the previous method of gradually eliminating each one, especially in accelerating the acquisition of multiple ideal trait combinations, where its advantages are even more prominent. Of course, gene-edited materials cannot be played alone. They will eventually have to "marry" traditional breeding to enter larger-scale applications. For instance, by crossing gene-edited strains with low TI with traditional superior varieties that are drought-tolerant, high-yielding and disease-resistant, it is possible to breed new soybean varieties that are high in protein, adaptable and nutritious. This direction is actually in line with the current major trend in agricultural breeding-to make modern genetic technology an "accelerator" for traditional breeding. Ultimately, CRISPR/Cas9 is not a universal key, but it is indeed a good tool that brings humanity closer to "precision breeding". The goals that were difficult to achieve in crop improvement in the past are now gradually becoming possible. Reducing anti-nutritional factors and allergic proteins in soybeans is just the beginning; there is still much potential to be unlocked in the future. However, as technology advances rapidly, regulation must also keep up. Don't forget that the public's acceptance, the support of legal norms, and the sense of responsibility of the scientific community itself will all affect how far CRISPR can go. To truly enable this technology to achieve its maximum value in agriculture, it is not solely dependent on laboratory data. Acknowledgments I extend my sincere thanks to two anonymous peer reviewers for their invaluable feedback on the initial draft of this paper, whose evaluations and suggestions have contributed to the improvement of our manuscript.
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