Linking CRISPR-Cas9 interference in cassava to the evolution of editing-resistant geminiviruses.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Geminiviruses cause damaging diseases in several important crop species. However, limited progress has been made in developing crop varieties resistant to these highly diverse DNA viruses. Recently, the bacterial CRISPR/Cas9 system has been transferred to plants to target and confer immunity to geminiviruses. In this study, we use CRISPR-Cas9 interference in the staple food crop cassava with the aim of engineering resistance to African cassava mosaic virus, a member of a widespread and important family (Geminiviridae) of plant-pathogenic DNA viruses.

Results

Our results show that the CRISPR system fails to confer effective resistance to the virus during glasshouse inoculations. Further, we find that between 33 and 48% of edited virus genomes evolve a conserved sin

SUBMITTER: Mehta D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6482539 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature