Demonstration of targeted crossovers in hybrid maize using CRISPR technology

Naturally occurring chromosomal crossovers (CO) during meiosis are a key driver of genetic diversity. The ability to target CO at specific allelic loci in hybrid plants would provide an advantage to the plant breeding process by facilitating trait introgression, and potentially increasing the rate o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Communications biology 2022-01, Vol.5 (1), p.53-53, Article 53
Main Authors: Kouranov, Andrei, Armstrong, Charles, Shrawat, Ashok, Sidorov, Vladimir, Huesgen, Scott, Lemke, Bryce, Boyle, Timothy, Gasper, Michelle, Lawrence, Richard, Yang, Samuel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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Biology
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Cell cycle
Chromosomes, Plant
CRISPR
CRISPR-Cas Systems
Crossing Over, Genetic
DNA End-Joining Repair
Gene Editing - methods
Genetic crosses
Genetic diversity
Genomes
Hybridization, Genetic
Life Sciences
Meiosis
Non-homologous end joining
Nuclease
Offspring
Plant breeding
Somatic cells
Transgenic plants
Zea mays - genetics
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Summary:Naturally occurring chromosomal crossovers (CO) during meiosis are a key driver of genetic diversity. The ability to target CO at specific allelic loci in hybrid plants would provide an advantage to the plant breeding process by facilitating trait introgression, and potentially increasing the rate of genetic gain. We present the first demonstration of targeted CO in hybrid maize utilizing the CRISPR Cas12a system. Our experiments showed that stable and heritable targeted CO can be produced in F1 somatic cells using Cas12a at a significantly higher rate than the natural CO in the same interval. Molecular characterization of the recombinant plants demonstrated that the targeted CO were driven by the non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) or HDR repair pathways, presumably during the mitotic cell cycle. These results are a step towards the use of RNA-guided nuclease technology to simplify the creation of targeted genome combinations in progeny and accelerate breeding. Kouranov et al. demonstrate Cas12a-mediated targeted chromosomal crossover (CO) in transgenic hybrid maize plants and produce heritable crossover in F1 plants when Cas12a transgene is segregated away. The authors also report that the frequency of LbCas12a-mediated CO is higher than control natural CO in the same intervals in the progeny of 4 different events.
ISSN:2399-3642
2399-3642
DOI:10.1038/s42003-022-03004-9