Tomato Gene Targeting Reimagined: A Smart Detour Around DNA Repair

Scalable CRISPR-Based Gene Editing Improves Tomato Crop Traits

In a study published in Nature Communications titled “Construction of multi-targeted CRISPR libraries in tomato to overcome functional redundancy at genome-scale level,” researchers from Tel Aviv University have developed a genetic editing method tailored to crop plants to influence various traits in tomato plants, including the taste and shape of the fruit. The technology can be applied to a wide variety of crop species and may eventually be us…

Tomato Gene Targeting Reimagined: A Smart Detour Around DNA Repair

Plant genome editing through CRISPR-Cas holds transformative potential, yet its precision remains hampered by low gene targeting (GT) efficiency. This study presents a strategy to enhance CRISPR-based GT in tomato by using a dominant-negative version of the ku80 protein (KUDN), which interferes with the canonical non-homologous end-joining (cNHEJ) pathway. By shifting the DNA repair preference toward homologous recombination (HR), the team achie…