Development of Targeted Mutant Rice using the CRISPR-Cpf1 System

CRISPR-Cpf1 is a newly identified CRISPR-Cas system, and Cpf1 was recently used as a tool for targeted genome editing in mammalian cells. To test whether the engineered CRISPR-Cpf1 system could induce the production of rice mutants, Rongfang Xu, together with colleagues from Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, selected two genome targets, the OsPDS and OsBEL genes.

After the transformation, the target region of OsPDS was examined, revealing that targeted mutagenesis could be achieved in rice using CRISPR-Cpf1. Analysis of the other target, OsBEL, confirmed that mutants were efficiently induced through transformation.

Further analysis also found that pre-crRNAs with a full-length direct repeat sequence exhibited higher efficiencies compared to mature crRNAs. These results indicate that the new CRISPR-Cpf1 can efficiently generate specific and heritable targeted mutations in rice.

For more information, read the article in Plant Biotechnology Journal.