Yang Tianxia, Ali Muhammad, Lin Lihao, Li Ping, He Hongju, Zhu Qiang, Sun Chuanlong, Wu Ning, Zhang Xiaofei, Huang Tingting, Li Chang-Bao, Li Chuanyou, Deng Lei
State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, National Center for Plant Gene Research (Beijing), Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Innovation Academy for Seed Design, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
CAS Center for Excellence in Biotic Interactions, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Hortic Res. 2022 Sep 19;10(1):uhac214. doi: 10.1093/hr/uhac214. eCollection 2023.
Fruit color is an important horticultural trait, which greatly affects consumer preferences. In tomato, fruit color is determined by the accumulation of different pigments, such as carotenoids in the pericarp and flavonoids in the peel, along with the degradation of chlorophyll during fruit ripening. Since fruit color is a multigenic trait, it takes years to introgress all color-related genes in a single genetic background via traditional crossbreeding, and the avoidance of linkage drag during this process is difficult. Here, we proposed a rapid breeding strategy to generate tomato lines with different colored fruits from red-fruited materials by CRISPR/Cas9-mediated multiplex gene editing of three fruit color-related genes (, , and ). Using this strategy, the red-fruited cultivar 'Ailsa Craig' has been engineered to a series of tomato genotypes with different fruit colors, including yellow, brown, pink, light-yellow, pink-brown, yellow-green, and light green. Compared with traditional crossbreeding, this strategy requires less time and can obtain transgene-free plants with different colored fruits in less than 1 year. Most importantly, it does not alter other important agronomic traits, like yield and fruit quality. Our strategy has great practical potential for tomato breeding and serves as a reference for improving multigene-controlled traits of horticultural crops.
果实颜色是一项重要的园艺性状,极大地影响消费者的喜好。在番茄中,果实颜色由不同色素的积累决定,如果皮中的类胡萝卜素和外果皮中的黄酮类化合物,以及果实成熟过程中叶绿素的降解。由于果实颜色是一个多基因性状,通过传统杂交育种将所有与颜色相关的基因导入单一遗传背景需要数年时间,并且在此过程中避免连锁累赘很困难。在此,我们提出了一种快速育种策略,通过对三个与果实颜色相关的基因(、和)进行CRISPR/Cas9介导的多重基因编辑,从红色果实材料中培育出具有不同颜色果实的番茄品系。利用这一策略,红色果实品种“Ailsa Craig”已被改造为一系列具有不同果实颜色的番茄基因型,包括黄色、棕色、粉色、浅黄色、粉棕色、黄绿色和浅绿色。与传统杂交育种相比,该策略所需时间更少,能够在不到1年的时间内获得具有不同颜色果实的无转基因植株。最重要的是,它不会改变其他重要的农艺性状,如产量和果实品质。我们的策略在番茄育种方面具有巨大的实际潜力,并为改良园艺作物的多基因控制性状提供了参考。