Clonal seeds from hybrid rice by simultaneous genome engineering of meiosis and fertilization genes

• Published in: Nature biotechnology 2019-03, Vol.37 (3), p.283-286
• Main Authors: Wang, Chun, Liu, Qing, Shen, Yi, Hua, Yufeng, Wang, Junjie, Lin, Jianrong, Wu, Mingguo, Sun, Tingting, Cheng, Zhukuan, Mercier, Raphael, Wang, Kejian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/449/447/2311; 631/61/338; Agriculture; Analysis; Bioinformatics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedical Engineering/Biotechnology; Biomedicine; Biotechnology; Chemical and Process Engineering; CRISPR; CRISPR-Cas systems; CRISPR-Cas Systems - genetics; Engineering Sciences; Fertilization; Fertilization - genetics; Food engineering; Gametes; Gene Editing; Genes; Genetic aspects; Genetic Engineering - methods; Genetic research; Genetically modified crops; Genome editing; Genome, Plant - genetics; Genomes; Heterosis; Heterozygosity; Hybrid rice; Hybrid seeds; Hybrid vigor; Hybridization, Genetic; Hybrids; Letter; Life Sciences; Meiosis; Meiosis - genetics; Oryza - genetics; Oryza - growth & development; Phenotype; Phenotypes; Plant asexual reproduction; Plant Proteins - genetics; Propagation; Rice; Seeds; Seeds - genetics; Seeds - growth & development; Self propagation; Vegetal Biology; Vigor
• ISSN: 1087-0156; 1546-1696
• DOI: 10.1038/s41587-018-0003-0

Heterosis, or hybrid vigor, is exploited by breeders to produce elite high-yielding crop lines, but beneficial phenotypes are lost in subsequent generations owing to genetic segregation. Clonal propagation through seeds would enable self-propagation of F 1 hybrids. Here we report a strategy to enable clonal reproduction of F 1 rice hybrids through seeds. We fixed the heterozygosity of F 1 hybrid rice by multiplex CRISPR–Cas9 genome editing of the REC8 , PAIR1 and OSD1 meiotic genes to produce clonal diploid gametes and tetraploid seeds. Next, we demonstrated that editing the MATRILINEAL ( MTL ) gene (involved in fertilization) could induce formation of haploid seeds in hybrid rice. Finally, we combined fixation of heterozygosity and haploid induction by simultaneous editing of all four genes ( REC8 , PAIR1 , OSD1 and MTL) in hybrid rice and obtained plants that could propagate clonally through seeds. Application of our method may enable self-propagation of a broad range of elite F 1 hybrid crops. Hybrids can be self-pollinated to produce true-breeding progeny through seeds by simultaneous genome editing of four endogenous genes in a rice F 1 hybrid variety.