rice
Rice is a cereal grain domesticated from wild grass species that has become the primary staple food for billions of people globally. In plant science, rice represents a crucial model system for understanding crop domestication, genetic improvement, and environmental adaptation mechanisms. Research into rice breeding, genetics, and cultivation practices remains essential for advancing agricultural sustainability and meeting future food security demands.
open_in_new WikipediaPubMed · 2026-05-20
Scientists built a more powerful version of CRISPR for rice that can edit many genes at once with greater precision and efficiency. By fusing a DNA-chewing protein to the editing tool and using the plant's own RNA machinery as a guide, the system outperforms previous approaches and could speed up breeding of crops with multiple improved traits simultaneously.
The TREX2-SpCas9 fusion protein produced higher editing efficiency and larger DNA deletions than standard SpCas9 or other exonuclease-fused versions tested.
Screening 38 endogenous rice tRNA genes identified 13 high-performing candidates that can reliably process multiple guide RNAs from a single genetic construct.
Combining the TREX2-SpCas9 fusion with the optimized tRNA array achieved high-efficiency simultaneous editing across multiple genomic loci in rice.
