Gene-activating CRISPR tool maps a key plant hormone's assembly line
Arciniegas JP, Alvarez D, Wang JY, Vazquez-Vilar M, Orzaez D
Crispr
Strigolactones are the chemical signal that triggers destructive Striga weeds to sprout and attack crop roots, so pinning down exactly how plants make them opens a path to breeding crops that starve the parasite out.
Plants make a hormone called strigolactone that shapes how bushy they grow and helps them attract helpful fungi underground, but it also accidentally invites parasitic weeds to latch onto their roots. Researchers used a CRISPR technique that switches genes on, rather than cutting DNA, to systematically test which genes build this hormone in a tobacco relative. That let them trace the biosynthesis pathway more directly than older methods allowed.
Key Findings
1
Applied CRISPR-based transcriptional activation (CRISPRa) in Nicotiana benthamiana to selectively boost candidate genes instead of knocking them out
2
Used the approach to identify and order steps in the strigolactone biosynthesis pathway
3
Demonstrates CRISPRa as a tool for functional gene discovery in plant hormone pathways beyond simple knockouts
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Technical Summary
Scientists used a gene-editing tool that turns genes up instead of cutting them out to map how tobacco plants build strigolactones, hormone-like chemicals that control branching and talk to soil fungi and parasitic weeds.
