title: Rapid generation of a transgene-free powdery mildew resistant tomato by genome deletion.
abstract: Genome editing has emerged as a technology with a potential to revolutionize plant breeding. In this study, we report on generating, in less than ten months, Tomelo, a non-transgenic tomato variety resistant to the powdery mildew fungal pathogen using the CRISPR/Cas9 technology. We used whole-genome sequencing to show that Tomelo does not carry any foreign DNA sequences but only carries a deletion that is indistinguishable from naturally occurring mutations. We also present evidence for CRISPR/Cas9 being a highly precise tool, as we did not detect off-target mutations in Tomelo. Using our pipeline, mutations can be readily introduced into elite or locally adapted tomato varieties in less than a year with relatively minimal effort and investment.
authors.affiliation: The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7UH, UK.|Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5 2JQ, UK.
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nekrasov
authors.affiliation: Institute of Digital Agriculture, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310021, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Congmao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7UH, UK.
authors.forename: Joe
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Win
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, 72076, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Christa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lanz
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, 72076, Tübingen, Germany. detlef.weigel@tuebingen.mpg.de.
authors.forename: Detlef
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Weigel
authors.affiliation: The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7UH, UK. sophien.kamoun@tsl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Sophien
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0290-0315
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kamoun
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D064113:CRISPR-Cas Systems; D060467:Disease Resistance / Q000235:genetics*; D000072669:Gene Editing; D018390:Gene Targeting; D018745:Genome, Plant; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology*; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D019076:Transgenes