CRISPR-Adventskalender

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© Daria Chrobok, DC SciArt

Crop: Water melon (Citrullus lanatus)
Property: Herbicide tolerance

The watermelon belongs to the pumpkin family. Pumpkins require a lot of space to grow, which renders their plant density in the field relatively low. As a result, watermelon fields are highly susceptible to weeds. Chinese scientists at China Agricultural University have used base editing to create a targeted point mutation in a gene responsible for herbicide tolerance in plants. This made the cultivated plants tolerant to the herbicide tribenuron.

Publication

TitleEngineering herbicide-resistant watermelon variety through CRISPR/Cas9-mediated base-editing
AuthorsShouwei Tian et al.
CountryChina
JournalPlant Cell Reports
Year2018
DOIdoi:10.1007/s00299-018-2299-0