Knockout of floral and meiosis genes using CRISPR/Cas9 produces male-sterility in Eucalyptus without impacts on vegetative growth.

ABSTRACT: Eucalyptus spp. are widely cultivated for the production of pulp, energy, essential oils, and as ornamentals. However, their dispersal from plantings, especially when grown as an exotic, can cause ecological disruptions. To provide new tools for prevention of sexual dispersal by pollen as well as to induce male-sterility for hybrid breeding, we studied the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9-mediated knockout of three floral genes in both FT-expressing (early-flowering) and non-FT genotypes. We report male-sterile phenotypes resulting from knockout of the homologs of all three genes, including one involved in meiosis and two regulating early stages of pollen development. The targeted genes were Eucalyptus homologs of REC8 (

SUBMITTER: Nagle MF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10345981 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature