A steroid spray lets scientists flip plant genes on demand
Majewska Z, Jursza G, Dolzblasz A
Crispr
The next drought-tolerant tomato or disease-resistant wheat variety in development may owe its precision to researchers being able to switch a single gene on in one leaf or root cell without affecting the rest of the plant.
Imagine having a light switch for individual genes inside a plant, one you could flip on in just the roots, or just one leaf, whenever you wanted. That's essentially what the LhGR/pOp system does: spraying or watering a plant with a steroid called dexamethasone activates chosen genes exactly where and when a scientist chooses. This review rounds up how labs have used the tool across dozens of plant species and pairs it with newer tricks like CRISPR gene editing to precisely destroy or study individual cell types.
Key Findings
The GR-LhG4/pOp system enables dexamethasone-inducible, tissue-specific control of gene expression across numerous plant species and organs, not just Arabidopsis
The system supports both classical applications (gene overexpression or silencing) and newer approaches, including integration with CRISPR-Cas for targeted cell-type ablation
The review compiles existing GR-LhG4 transgenic lines and dexamethasone application protocols for non-Arabidopsis and economically important crop species
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists have a reliable molecular 'switch' that lets them turn specific genes on or off in plants just by applying a hormone-like chemical, and this review maps out how researchers can use it across many crop and lab species, not just the standard lab plant Arabidopsis.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Dexamethasone-inducible LhGR/pOp system: simple and flexible spatiotemporal control of gene expression.
Our review illustrates how the dexamethasone-inducible LhGR/pOp system has been used across numerous tissues/organs and plant species, and summarizes the resources and inducer application procedure...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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