Scientists used CRISPR gene editing to make a fragrant traditional rice variety shorter and sturdier — without reducing grain yield or affecting its distinctive flavor and quality. The tweak works by fine-tuning a natural growth-suppression switch already built into the plant's DNA.
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Inserting a single adenine (a DNA building block) into the SD1 gene's control region was enough to significantly reduce plant height by boosting the natural repressive grip of the TCP19 protein.
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Edited rice lines maintained equivalent grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency compared to unmodified plants, confirming no productivity trade-off.
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Cell-level analysis showed the height reduction came from shorter individual cells in the stem internodes, not fewer cells — a clean, precise phenotypic outcome.
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