Luo Zhenling, Liu Chao-Lei, Yang Xiaofei, Zhu Jian-Kang, Huang Chao-Feng
National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200032, China.
University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
Stress Biol. 2023 Aug 21;3(1):34. doi: 10.1007/s44154-023-00117-x.
Cadmium (Cd) intake poses a significant health risk to humans, and the contamination of rice grains with Cd is a major concern in regions where rice is a staple food. Although the knockout of OsNRAMP5, which encodes a key transporter responsible for Cd and manganese (Mn) uptake, can significantly reduce Cd accumulation in rice grains, recent studies have revealed that this knockout adversely affects plant growth, grain yield, and increases vulnerability to abiotic and biotic stresses due to reduced Mn accumulation. In this study, we employed CRISPR/Cas9 technology to modify the regulatory region of OsNRAMP5 with the aim of reducing Cd accumulation in rice grains. Our findings demonstrate that mutations in the regulatory region of OsNRAMP5 do not impact its expression pattern but result in a reduction in translation. The decreased translation of OsNRAMP5 effectively decreases grain Cd accumulation while leaving Mn accumulation and important agronomic traits, including yield, unaffected. Thus, our study presents a practical and viable strategy for reducing Cd accumulation in rice grains without compromising Mn accumulation or overall rice production.
镉（Cd）的摄入对人类健康构成重大风险，在以大米为主食的地区，Cd对稻米的污染是一个主要问题。尽管编码负责Cd和锰（Mn）吸收的关键转运蛋白的OsNRAMP5基因敲除可显著降低稻米中Cd的积累，但最近的研究表明，这种基因敲除会对植物生长、谷物产量产生不利影响，并由于Mn积累减少而增加对非生物和生物胁迫的脆弱性。在本研究中，我们采用CRISPR/Cas9技术对OsNRAMP5的调控区域进行修饰，目的是减少稻米中Cd的积累。我们的研究结果表明，OsNRAMP5调控区域的突变不影响其表达模式，但会导致翻译减少。OsNRAMP5翻译的减少有效地降低了籽粒Cd的积累，同时使Mn的积累和包括产量在内的重要农艺性状不受影响。因此，我们的研究提出了一种在不影响Mn积累或水稻总产量的前提下，减少稻米中Cd积累的实用可行策略。
