Enhancing CRISPR-Cas12a base editing in plants with LbCas12a variants and introns.
Cheng Y, Li G, Zhou M, Mandlik R, Wang D
Summary
PubMedWhy it matters This matters because better gene-editing tools bring us closer to crops that can survive drought, resist pests, or tolerate herbicides — meaning more food security and potentially lower pesticide use in the fields that grow your food.
Researchers upgraded a molecular 'find-and-replace' tool for plant DNA, making it work better in rice and poplar trees. By tweaking the tool's components — including adding small genetic 'spacers' called introns — they got it to make cleaner, more efficient edits to specific letters in a plant's genetic code. They also checked their work carefully to confirm the edits landed in the right spots and didn't cause unintended changes elsewhere in the genome.
chevron_right Technical Details
Scientists improved a gene-editing tool called CRISPR-Cas12a to make precise, targeted changes to plant DNA more efficiently and accurately — successfully engineering herbicide-resistant rice and testing the system in poplar trees.
Key Findings
Adding introns (genetic spacers) to the Cas12a cytosine base editor substantially improved its editing efficiency in rice compared to the version without introns.
An adenine base editor built on the LbCas12a-RRV variant successfully introduced herbicide-resistant mutations in the rice OsACCase gene, demonstrating real-world trait development potential.
Whole-genome sequencing confirmed that the improved editors produce very few guide RNA-dependent off-target mutations, though guide RNA-independent off-target edits — caused by high deaminase enzyme activity — were still detected.
Abstract Preview
Cytosine base editors (CBEs) and adenine base editors (ABEs) are powerful tools for precise genome editing in plants. Conventionally, such base editors are built upon the CRISPR-Cas9 systems where ...
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