TALEs, TALENs, and TALE Base Editors: From Plant Pathology to Biotechnology.
Grau J, Boch J
Crispr
Bacterial diseases that devastate rice, citrus, and pepper crops worldwide may soon be controllable using the bacteria's own molecular weapons turned against them — meaning the blight threatening your pepper plants or the citrus greening killing backyard orange trees could have targeted genetic solutions.
Some bacteria that infect plants use tiny molecular keys to unlock specific plant genes and force the plant to help the infection spread. Scientists figured out exactly how these keys work and then engineered them into precise tools that can switch any gene on or off — in crops, in medicine, even potentially in your garden plants. It's a case of stealing the enemy's playbook and rewriting it for our benefit.
Key Findings
TALE proteins from plant-pathogenic bacteria can bind specific DNA sequences in plant cell nuclei to activate genes that aid bacterial infection
TALEs have been repurposed into TALEN gene-editing tools and TALE-based base editors, enabling precise single-letter DNA changes without cutting the genome
TALEs are found across many but not all plant-pathogenic bacterial species, suggesting their role in infection varies by pathogen lineage
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists have discovered how disease-causing bacteria use special proteins called TALEs to hijack plant cells, and have since repurposed these same proteins into powerful gene-editing tools that can improve crops and fight disease.
Abstract Preview
TALEs (transcription activator-like effectors) are an excellent example of how studying pathogen-host interactions can lead to significant biotechnology inventions. TALEs are bacterial effectors th...
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