Feeding a growing population is a major challenge, especially in the context of rapidly changing climatic conditions. Genome editing will revolutionize plant breeding and help ensure global food supplies.
On February 12, 2021, Gao Caixia from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences published an online review article entitled "Genome engineering for crop improvement and future agriculture" in Cell. The review will focus on the newly developed technologies and review them at the same time. Development and application of genome editing tools in plants.
This review describes new plant breeding strategies based on genome editing, discusses their impact on crop production, and highlights the latest advances in plant improvement based on genome editing that cannot be achieved by traditional breeding. The review also discusses the challenges facing genome editing, which must be overcome before the technology's full potential for future crop and food production can be realized.
In addition, on June 29, 2020, the Gao Caixia team from the Institute of Genetics and Development of the Chinese Academy of Sciences published a research paper entitled "Precise, predictable multi-nucleotide deletions in rice and wheat using APOBEC–Cas9" online in Nature Biotechnology, which reported The development of a series of APOBEC-Cas9 fusion-induced deletion systems (AFIDs). The deletions in rice and wheat protoplasts (30.2%) and regenerated plants (34.8%) using AFID-3 are approximately predictable. The study showed that eAFID-3, where A3A in AFID-3 is replaced by truncated APOBEC3B (A3Bctd), produces more uniform deletions. AFID can be used to study regulatory regions and protein domains to improve crops (click to read).
On November 6, 2019, Nature Review Molecular Cell Biology (IF 55.47) published an online review article titled "Applications of CRISPR–Cas inagriculture and plant biotechnology" from Gao Caixia's group at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences . This article first focuses on the latest precision gene editing technologies, such as base editing and guided editing systems. Afterwards, the role of the CRISPR-Cas system in improving plant yield, quality, disease resistance, herbicide resistance, reproduction and accelerating domestication was discussed. Finally, it focuses on the latest breakthroughs in plant biotechnology related to CRISPR-Cas, including CRISPR-Cas element delivery, gene regulation, multiple gene editing and mutagenesis, and directed evolution technology. It is worth noting that the research group published a review article entitled "CRISPR/Cas Genome Editing and Precision Plant Breeding in Agriculture" in Annual Review of Plant Biology last year. Being able to continuously publish review articles on the application of gene editing in agricultural breeding in two authoritative top review journals also shows that the subject is at the world's leading level in the field of plant gene editing (click to read).
On February 28, 2019, Gao Caixia’s team from the Institute of Genetics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences published a research paper entitled "Cytosine, but not adenine, base editors induce genome-wide off-target mutations in rice" in Science. Of crop species) in BE3, HF1-BE3 and ABE genome-wide off-target mutations have been fully investigated. The study found that BE3 and HF1-BE3, but not ABE, induced a large number of genome-wide off-target mutations, mainly C→T single nucleotide variants (SNV), and were in gene-rich regions. It is worth noting that treatment of rice with BE3 or HF1-BE3 without sgRNA also resulted in an increase in genome-wide SNV. Therefore, the base editing unit of BE3 or HF1-BE3 needs to be optimized to obtain high fidelity (click to read).
On October 1, 2018, the Gao Caixia research group of the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and others published an online research paper entitled "Domestication of wild tomato is accelerated by genome editing" on Nature Biotechnology. The research selected natural Wild gooseberry tomato (Solanum pimpinellifolium), which is resistant to salt-alkali and bacterial scab disease, is used as the basic material. Gene editing technology is used to precisely target the coding regions and regulatory regions of multiple yield and quality trait control genes without sacrificing its salt-alkali resistance. Under the premise of natural resistance to scab, the yield and quality traits were accurately introduced into wild tomatoes, which accelerated the artificial domestication of wild plants. The researchers used a multi-target CRISPR/Cas9 vector system to precisely target the coding regions of the flowering photoperiod sensitivity, plant type and fruit synchronization control genes SP and SP5G (Coding region), and the cis-form of the fruit size control genes SlCLV3 and SlWUS Regulatory elements (Cis-regulatory element) and the upstream open reading frame (Upstream Open Reading Fragment, uORF) of the vitamin C synthase gene SlGGP1, 140 independent gene editing lines were obtained, and the genotype and phenotype identification of the progeny population showed , Gene editing eliminated the photoperiod sensitivity of wild tomato flowering, broke through the geographical limits of planting, and realized the first step in the domestication of wild plants. At the same time, the Indeterminate plant type with late flowering and sparse fruit setting of gooseberry tomato is transformed into a compact plant type with "Double determinate" growth type, which improves the fruit setting rate, the synchronization of fruit ripening and the harvest. index. The editing of the small peptide gene SlCLV3 and the cis-regulatory elements of the downstream gene SlWUS of the signal pathway and the upstream open reading frame of SlGGP1 made the wild tomato fruit larger and the vitamin C content increased. Salt treatment and inoculation experiments of scab bacteria showed that the precise introduction of the above-mentioned important agronomic traits did not affect the natural resistance of wild tomatoes. This research is the first to realize the rapid domestication of wild plants through gene editing, which provides a new strategy for precise design and creation of new crops (click to read).
On October 1, 2018, the Gao Caixia research group of the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and others published an online publication on Nature Biotechnology entitled "Efficient C-to-T base editing in plants using a fusion of nCas9 and human APOBEC3A "The research paper. The study used nCas9 and human cytosine deaminase (APOBEC1) to upgrade the single-base editing system for C to T substitution, and successfully realized efficient single-base site-directed mutagenesis in wheat, rice and potato genomes (click to read) ).
On August 6, 2018, Gao Caixia's research group from the Institute of Genetics and Development of the Chinese Academy of Sciences published a research paper entitled "Genome editing of upstream open reading frames enables translational control in plants" in Nature Biotechnology, which found endogenous uORF in plants Genome editing can regulate the translation of mRNA from the four pORFs involved in development or antioxidant biosynthesis. These data show that editing plant uORF provides a universal and effective method to manipulate mRNA translation, which can be used to dissect biological mechanisms and improve crops (click to read).
It is estimated that by 2050, the global population will reach 10 billion. The main challenge of our time is to learn how to feed a growing population and do it successfully. Due to the green revolution and advances in plant breeding technology, current crop yields can provide sufficient food for most of the population. However, due to climate change and limited arable land, crop production seems to be stagnating or even declining. To feed the world's 10 billion people, it is necessary to increase production by 60%. Therefore, improving agricultural productivity and sustainability is of utmost importance to the world. There is an urgent need for scientific breakthroughs and technological innovations in crop production to ensure future global food security.
Genetic variation is the basis of agricultural improvement. The purpose of plant breeding is to create and utilize these genetic variations. In the long history of plant breeding, four main techniques have been used: cross breeding, mutation breeding, transgenic breeding and breeding by genome editing. Traditional plant breeding (hybridization) involves the targeted hybridization of plants to combine ideal traits through sexual recombination, playing an important role in improving agricultural productivity. The first Green Revolution that began in the late 1950s is an example of this strategy, in which mutations in "dwarfing" genes were propagated to major staple food crops, such as wheat and rice, to obtain high-yielding varieties. However, because hybrid breeding can only be used to introduce traits that already exist in the parental genome, the low genetic variability of superior germplasm limits the use of this technology.
In mutation breeding, chemical mutagenesis or radiation mutagenesis is used to induce random mutations in the whole genome, which greatly expands genetic variation. However, identifying rare individuals with desired traits from a large number of mutagenized plants is labor-intensive and time-consuming. The key breakthrough in plant breeding is the development of genetically modified breeding, in which genes or traits from other organisms are introduced into crops, thereby increasing yield, reducing the use of pesticides and improving nutrition. However, because this technology randomly integrates foreign DNA into the plant genome, and so far only a few of these genetically modified crops have been used, and these genetically modified organisms (GMO) are subject to strict government supervision. In addition, bad public opinion about the safety of these products limits their potential.
Genome editing technologies have been developed to introduce precise and predictable genome modifications into plants to obtain desired traits, and they are producing precision breeding technologies that define the next generation of plant breeding. CRISPR/Cas has become one of the most advanced systems for engineering crop genome engineering. This technology is rapidly expanding and has been applied to major grains, such as rice, wheat and corn, and other crops that are critical to food security, such as potatoes and cassava. In addition, recently developed CRISPR-related tools (such as base editors and Primer editors) have greatly expanded the scope of genome editing, allowing precise nucleotide substitutions and targeted DNA deletions and insertions to be created.
The combination of CRISPR-Cas technology and modern breeding methods will play an important role in crop improvement programs. In this review, the current state of plant genome editing is described, focusing on the genetic modifications that can be produced using these technologies, and the application of plant genome editing as a next-generation plant breeding technology for crop improvement.
Paper link:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.01.005
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