Crop Biotech Update

Updates on Gene Editing Tomato with TALENs

March 13, 2024

Researchers from Universidad Miguel Hernández in Spain released a review article highlighting recent developments in improving tomatoes through gene editing. The review, published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, presented three studies on using TALENs for tomato gene editing, particularly in gibberellin signaling, anthocyanin production, and potyvirus resistance.

Two pairs of TALENs have been designed to target the gene Solyc11g011260, which encodes a negative regulator of gibberellin signaling. TALENs enabled the production of truncated versions of the PRO proteins that led to improved gibberellin response.

Another investigation used geminivirus replicons to express TALENs targeting Solyc10g086260 gene overexpression. This led to a change of plant tissue color to purple because of anthocyanin accumulation.

A more recent study successfully conferred a broad resistance to potyvirus. A mutation in the pepper gene that encodes, Solyc03g005870, was generated and inserted into the tomato genome using a pair of TALENs and a gene gun.

Find more research advances in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.


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