Development of genome editing technology without tissue culture and application to fruits and vegetables

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K21302
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 39:Agricultural and environmental biology and related fields
• Research Institution: University of Tsukuba
• Principal Investigator: Miura Kenji 筑波大学, 生命環境系, 教授 (00507949)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 有泉 亨 筑波大学, 生命環境系, 准教授 (70575381)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-07-30 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: ゲノム編集 / トマト / 一過的発現システム

Outline of Final Research Achievements

To apply genome editing to plants, generally transformed plants that express Cas9 and sgRNA are generated. In this study, we demonstrated that Cas9 and sgRNA can be transiently expressed in tomato cotyledons and regenerated in culture to produce base-edited plants that can be stably inherited by the next generation. As a method that does not use tissue culture, Cas9, sgRNA, and ipt were expressed in the cut end with one tomato leaf, a new shoot was formed from the cut end by ipt, and genome editing was performed on the shoot. The efficiency of genome editing was very low.

Free Research Field

植物分子生物学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では、一過的発現系を用いたゲノム編集技術の開発を行った。形質転換を経ないことで、ヌルセグレガント個体を迅速に獲得できるという利点があり、このことは、気候変動やニーズの多様化といった育種技術のスピードアップに大いに貢献すると考えられる。また、植物体への一過的発現系については改良の必要があるが、この方法は難組織培養の植物に適応できる可能性があり、様々な植物にゲノム編集を適用できることにつながる。