PubMed · 2026-05-01
A gene involved in chlorophyll production (Fvchli) turns out to also control how well strawberry plants defend themselves against a serious bacterial disease. When this gene is disabled using CRISPR, strawberry plants can't close their stomata fast enough to block invading bacteria, making them far more susceptible to infection.
Strawberry mutants with 70% gene editing efficiency reduced stomatal closure from 32% to only 16% aperture after ABA treatment, compared to wild-type plants that closed from 32% to 2.3%
Disease lesion area and incidence positively correlated with CRISPR editing efficiency — more gene disruption meant more disease
Scanning electron microscopy confirmed mutant plants had significantly wider stomatal openings at 5 and 12 hours post-infection, enabling extensive bacterial colonization
