Watermelon plants edited to survive common herbicide without added genes
Tian S, Lu Y, Chen J, Gong G, Zhang H
Crispr
Watermelon growers spend significant effort managing weeds around young plants, and a glyphosate-resistant variety could let them spray fields without harming the crop.
Researchers made a tiny, precise change to a single gene in watermelon that controls how the plant responds to glyphosate, the most widely used weed killer. The edited plants look and grow normally but can withstand herbicide doses used in real farm fields. Because no foreign genes were added, these plants may avoid some regulatory hurdles that traditional genetic modifications face.
Key Findings
Prime editing of the watermelon EPSPS gene conferred glyphosate resistance without inserting foreign DNA
Heterozygous mutant plants tolerated field-level herbicide doses with no measurable growth penalty
Visible markers in the editing platform allow breeders to identify and select edited plants for use as parental lines
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists used a precise gene-editing tool to make watermelon naturally resistant to glyphosate herbicide, without introducing foreign DNA. The resulting plants tolerate real-world herbicide doses and can be used as breeding parents to pass this trait to new varieties.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Engineering glyphosate-resistant watermelon by prime editing.
Editing the watermelon EPSPS gene using a prime editing platform with visible markers created a non-transgenic glyphosate-resistant line. These robust heterozygous mutants tolerate field-level herb...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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The watermelon is a species of flowering plant in the family Cucurbitaceae, that has a large, edible fruit. It is a scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, and is widely cultivated worldwide, with more than 1,000 varieties.