CRISPR Helps Researchers Understand Mutations in Tomato

Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) worked together to explore just how predictable plant breeding actually is with natural and CRISPR mutations. To do so, they turned back the evolutionary clock.

CSHL Professor & HHMI Investigator Zachary Lippman and Associate Professor David McCandlish wondered if different natural and engineered mutations could have similar effects on tomato size depending on the presence of two other gene mutations. Using CRISPR, they created a series of mutations in the SlCLV3 gene, whose natural mutation is known to increase fruit size. They then combined those mutations with others in genes that work with SlCLV3.

They were able to create 46 tomato strains with different combinations of mutations. They found that SlCLV3 mutations produced more predictable effects when certain other mutations were also present. Mutations in one gene produced predictable changes in tomato size, but mutations in another yielded random outcomes. Remarkably, the most beneficial effect involved two mutations that arose millennia ago and were central in tomato domestication.

For more details, read the article on the CSHL website.