Lou Huanchang, Li Shujia, Shi Zihang, Zou Yupan, Zhang Yueqin, Huang Xiaozhen, Yang Dandan, Yang Yongfang, Li Zuoyao, Xu Cao
Key Laboratory of Seed Innovation, National Center for Plant Gene Research (Beijing), Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; CAS-JIC Centre of Excellence for Plant and Microbial Science, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; College of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Key Laboratory of Seed Innovation, National Center for Plant Gene Research (Beijing), Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; CAS-JIC Centre of Excellence for Plant and Microbial Science, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Cell. 2025 Jan 23;188(2):530-549.e20. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.11.005. Epub 2024 Dec 13.
A 2°C climate-warming scenario is expected to further exacerbate average crop losses by 3%-13%, yet few heat-tolerant staple-crop varieties are available toward meeting future food demands. Here, we develop high-efficiency prime-editing tools to precisely knockin a 10-bp heat-shock element (HSE) into promoters of cell-wall-invertase genes (CWINs) in elite rice and tomato cultivars. HSE insertion endows CWINs with heat-responsive upregulation in both controlled and field environments to enhance carbon partitioning to grain and fruits, resulting in per-plot yield increases of 25% in rice cultivar Zhonghua11 and 33% in tomato cultivar Ailsa Craig over heat-stressed controls, without fruit quality penalties. Up to 41% of heat-induced grain losses were rescued in rice. Beyond a prime-editing system for tweaking gene expression by efficiently delivering bespoke changes into crop genomes, we demonstrate broad and robust utility for targeted knockin of cis-regulatory elements to optimize source-sink relations and boost crop climate resilience.
预计2°C的气候变暖情景将使农作物平均损失进一步加剧3%-13%，然而，几乎没有耐热的主粮作物品种可用于满足未来的粮食需求。在此，我们开发了高效的碱基编辑工具，将一个10碱基对的热休克元件（HSE）精确敲入优良水稻和番茄品种的细胞壁转化酶基因（CWIN）启动子中。HSE的插入使CWIN在可控环境和田间环境中均具有热响应上调能力，从而增强碳向籽粒和果实的分配，导致水稻品种“中花11”每块地的产量比热胁迫对照提高25%，番茄品种“Ailsa Craig”提高33%，且果实品质不受影响。在水稻中，高达41%的热诱导籽粒损失得到挽救。除了通过有效地向作物基因组中引入定制变化来调整基因表达的碱基编辑系统外，我们还展示了靶向敲入顺式调控元件以优化源库关系和提高作物气候适应力的广泛而强大的实用性。
