Gene editing tweak makes cattle feed corn more nutritious
Zhou J, Wang X, Zhang Y, Luo X, Quan S
Crispr
The corn silage filling silos on dairy farms this fall could soon pack more vitamin C and protein into every bite, meaning healthier cows and less need for supplemental feed additives.
Corn plants have a tiny genetic 'off switch' region that normally limits how much vitamin C they make. Researchers found a natural version of part of that switch that boosts vitamin C production, then used CRISPR gene editing to fine-tune a second nearby switch, and combining both tweaks gave corn plants more vitamin C plus more protein and phosphorus, all while growing just as well as regular corn. That means better, more nutritious feed for the cows and other livestock that eat silage corn.
Key Findings
Two upstream open reading frames (uORF1 and uORF2) in the 5' UTR of the GGP gene work together to control vitamin C synthesis in maize
Combining a natural high-translation haplotype of uORF1 with CRISPR/Cas9 editing of uORF2 created an elite variant with significantly higher vitamin C content
The engineered dual-uORF variant also improved crude protein and phosphorus levels in silage without reducing plant growth
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists combined a natural gene variant with precise gene editing to boost vitamin C, protein, and phosphorus in silage corn, the feed crop that livestock depend on, without hurting how well the plants grow.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Natural and CRISPR/Cas9 Editing Variations of Dual-uORFs Synergistically Increase the Nutritional Value of Silage Maize Feed.
The precise enhancement of nutritional quality in silage maize is a core strategy for increasing livestock production efficiency. Through evolutionary analysis of multiple plant species, we identif...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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Maize, also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. The leafy stalk of the plant gives rise to male inflorescences or tassels which produce pollen, and female inflorescences called ears. The ears yield grain, known as kernels or seeds. In modern ...