ABOVE: © ISTOCK.COM, Enis Aksoy
Altering the genetic code of crops and other plants to improve survival and yield, or to study physiology, has long been the pursuit of plant scientists and breeders. One of the newest methods for such genetic tinkering is called base editing, which utilizes modified components of the canonical CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system to make point mutations at specific nucleotides within the genome. The technique was originally developed by David Liu of Harvard University and colleagues for use in mammalian cells, but other scientists have recently adapted it for plants.
When using the traditional CRISPR-Cas9 system, researchers could choose between introducing mutations efficiently (by cutting the target gene, which creates random insertions or deletions during repair) or precisely (by introducing a DNA repair template containing a desired sequence change). The latter requires homology-directed repair, which tends to occur infrequently. Because base editing requires neither cutting nor templates, ...
