PubMed · 2026-06-01
Scientists used a plant virus to deliver a miniature gene-editing tool (CRISPR) directly into living plants, successfully editing their DNA without leaving behind any foreign genes. This approach skips the expensive, time-consuming lab tissue culture step normally required to create edited crops.
A miniaturized CRISPR tool (Cas12f) was successfully packaged into Tobacco Rattle Virus and delivered to Nicotiana benthamiana plants, producing visible gene knockouts confirmed by persistent leaf bleaching and DNA sequencing.
Fusing the CRISPR components with a transfer RNA (tRNA) tag and using the Pea early browning virus (PeBV) promoter yielded the highest editing efficiency among all tested configurations.
The entire system is transgene-free — no foreign DNA remains stably integrated in the edited plant — and bypasses tissue culture, a major cost and time bottleneck in conventional crop genetic engineering.
