Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar;7(3):287-294.
doi: 10.1038/s41477-021-00858-5. Epub 2021 Feb 22.

Enhancing grain-yield-related traits by CRISPR-Cas9 promoter editing of maize CLE genes

Lei Liu  1 , Joseph Gallagher  2 , Edgar Demesa Arevalo  1 , Richelle Chen  1 , Tara Skopelitis  1 , Qingyu Wu  1   3 , Madelaine Bartlett  2 , David Jackson  4
Affiliations

Enhancing grain-yield-related traits by CRISPR-Cas9 promoter editing of maize CLE genes

Lei Liu et al. Nat Plants. 2021 Mar.

Abstract

Several yield-related traits selected during crop domestication and improvement1,2 are associated with increases in meristem size3, which is controlled by CLE peptide signals in the CLAVATA-WUSCHEL pathway4-13. Here, we engineered quantitative variation for yield-related traits in maize by making weak promoter alleles of CLE genes, and a null allele of a newly identified partially redundant compensating CLE gene, using CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing. These strategies increased multiple maize grain-yield-related traits, supporting the enormous potential for genomic editing in crop enhancement.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

  • Towards knowledge-driven breeding.
    Chen Q, Tian F. Chen Q, et al. Nat Plants. 2021 Mar;7(3):242-243. doi: 10.1038/s41477-021-00864-7. Nat Plants. 2021. PMID: 33619355 No abstract available.

References

    1. Doebley, J. F., Gaut, B. S. & Smith, B. D. The molecular genetics of crop domestication. Cell 127, 1309–1321 (2006). - PubMed - DOI
    1. Doebley, J. F. The genetics of maize evolution. Annu. Rev. Genet. 38, 37–59 (2004). - PubMed - DOI
    1. Vollbrecht, E. & Schmidt, R. J. in Handbook of Maize: Its Biology (eds Bennetzen, J. L & Hake, S. C.) 13–40 (Springer, 2009).
    1. Wu, Q., Xu, F. & Jackson, D. All together now, a magical mystery tour of the maize shoot meristem. Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 45, 26–35 (2018). - PubMed - DOI
    1. Clark, S. E., Williams, R. W. & Meyerowitz, E. M. The CLAVATA1 gene encodes a putative receptor kinase that controls shoot and floral meristem size in Arabidopsis. Cell 62, 575–585 (1997). - DOI