CRISPR-Cas9-mediated 75.5-Mb inversion in maize

Nat Plants. 2020 Dec;6(12):1427-1431. doi: 10.1038/s41477-020-00817-6. Epub 2020 Dec 7.

Abstract

CRISPR-Cas is a powerful double-strand-break technology with wide-ranging applications from gene discovery to commercial product development. Thus far, this tool has been almost exclusively used for gene knockouts and deletions, with a few examples of gene edits and targeted gene insertions. Here, we demonstrate the application of CRISPR-Cas9 technology to mediate targeted 75.5-Mb pericentric inversion in chromosome 2 in one of the elite maize inbred lines from Corteva Agriscience. This inversion unlocks a large chromosomal region containing substantial genetic variance for recombination, thus providing opportunities for the development of new maize varieties with improved phenotypes.

MeSH terms

  • CRISPR-Cas Systems*
  • Crops, Agricultural / genetics*
  • Gene Editing / methods*
  • Gene Knockout Techniques / methods*
  • Genes, Plant
  • Mutagenesis, Insertional / methods*
  • Plant Breeding / methods*
  • Sequence Inversion
  • Zea mays / genetics*