CRISPR-Cas9 Used to Alter Anthocyanin Production in Black Rice

Researchers from Hankyong National University, South Korea, edited three rice genes (OsF3′H, OsDFR and OsLDOX) involved in anthocyanin production. Modifying a trait using CRISPR-Cas9 mutagenesis has been proven to provide advantages in identifying gene function and crop improvement. The results of the gene editing are published in Plant Biotechnology Reports.

The findings revealed that the ratio of the edited plants in the transformed early generation was 57 percent. The edited mutant lines were found to exhibit changes in the seed color and anthocyanin content. Furthermore, all mutations were stably inherited to the second offspring generation. The transfer DNA was undetected in the first offspring generation as well as the backbone sequences in the whole genome resequencing.

Based on the results, CRISPR-Cas9 can be useful in inducing gene-specific mutations and the mutants are highly similar with non-GMO plants.

Read more in Plant Biotechnology Reports.