Biotech Updates

Cotton Transgenic Gene for Red Fluorescence Excised with Precision thru CRISPR-Cas9

July 5, 2017

Scientists from Huazhong Agricultural University used CRISPR-Cas9 system to edit the genome of allotetraploid cotton, Gossypium hirsutum, which has a complex genome. The results are published in Plant Biotechnology Journal.

The researchers targeted an exogenously transformed gene Discosoma red fluorescent protein2 (DsRed2) and an endogenous gene GhCLA1. Results showed that DsRed2-edited plants in T0 generation reverted its traits to wild type, with vanished red fluorescence in the whole plants. Furthermore, the mutated phenotype and genotype were inherited to their T1 progenies. On the other hand, 75% of the GhCLA1-edited plants exhibited albino phenotype with obvious nucleotides and DNA fragments deletion. High efficiency (67-100%) of gene editing at each target site was recorded. There was no off-target editing detected at the potential off-target sites. 

These results show that the CRISPR-Cas9 system is highly efficient and reliable for allotetraploid cotton genome editing.

Read the research article at Plant Biotechnology Journal.