Fine-tuning sugar content in strawberry

• Published in: Genome Biology Vol. 21; no. 1; p. 230
• Main Authors: Xing, Sinian, Chen, Kunling, Zhu, Haocheng, Zhang, Rui, Zhang, Huawei, Li, Bingbing, Gao, Caixia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central 03.09.2020; BMC
• Subjects: Alleles; Amino acids; Asexual reproduction; Asexuality; Asexually reproducing crops; Basic leucine zipper; Carbohydrate Metabolism; Fine-tuning; Fragaria - genetics; Fragaria - metabolism; Fragaria vesca; Fruit - metabolism; Gene Editing; Gene expression; genome; Genome editing; Genomes; Genotypes; homozygosity; Metabolism; Method; Mutants; Mutation; Open Reading Frames; Peptides; Phenotypes; Quantitative trait variation; Quantitative Trait, Heritable; quantitative traits; Reproduction, Asexual; strawberries; Strawberry; Sucrose; Sugar; sugar content; Transcription factors; Transgenic plants; Upstream open reading frame; Asexually reproducing crops; Quantitative trait variation; Strawberry; Sugar content; Upstream open reading frame; Basic leucine zipper; Fine-tuning
• ISSN: 1474-760X; 1474-7596; 1474-760X
• DOI: 10.1186/s13059-020-02146-5

Fine-tuning quantitative traits for continuous subtle phenotypes is highly advantageous. We engineer the highly conserved upstream open reading frame (uORF) of FvebZIPs1.1 in strawberry ( Fragaria vesca ), using base editor A3A-PBE. Seven novel alleles are generated. Sugar content of the homozygous T1 mutant lines is 33.9–83.6% higher than that of the wild-type. We also recover a series of transgene-free mutants with 35 novel genotypes containing a continuum of sugar content. All the novel genotypes could be immediately fixed in subsequent generations by asexual reproduction. Genome editing coupled with asexual reproduction offers tremendous opportunities for quantitative trait improvement.