"Small" changes made with gene editing cause severe deformities in plants LATEST VIDEOS "Small" changes made with gene editing cause severe deformities in plants Details New study points to unintended effects of gene editing in plants and potential negative effects on ecosystems Gene editing causes drastic unwanted effects in gene-edited plants including severe deformities, a new scientific publication in the journal Environmental Sciences Europe shows. This is the case even when the changes are intended by the gene editor to be small tweaks to existing genes rather than, for example, the introduction of new genetic material. More broadly, the study provides an overview of the negative effects on ecosystems that can result from the release of gene-edited plants. These unintended effects result from the intended changes induced by genome editing, which can affect various metabolic processes in the plants.