GLABRA2-based selection efficiently enriches Cas9-generated nonchimeric mutants in the T1 generation

The CRISPR/Cas9 system is a widely used tool for genome editing in plants. In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), egg cell-specific promoters driving Cas9 expression have been applied to reduce the proportion of T1 transformants that are chimeras; however, this approach generally leads to relatively low mutagenesis rates. In this study, a GLABRA2 mutation-based visible selection (GBVS) system was established to enrich nonchimeric mutants among T1 plants generated by an egg cell-specific CRISPR/Cas9 system. GBVS generally enhanced mutation screening, increasing the frequency by 2.58- to 7.50-fold, and 25%-48.15% of T1 plants selected through the GBVS system were homozygous or biallelic mutants, which was 1.71- to 7.86-fold higher than the percentage selected using the original system. The mutant phenotypes of T2 plants were not obviously affected by the glabrous background for all four target genes used in this study. Additionally, the nonchimeric pyrabactin resistance 1 (PYR1)/PYR1-like 1 (PYL1) and PYL2 triple mutant pyr1/pyl1/pyl2 could be obtained in the T1 generation with a ratio of 26.67% when GBVS was applied. Collectively, our results show that compared with the known CRISPR/Cas9 systems, the GBVS system described here saves more time and labor when used for the obtainment of homozygous or biallelic monogenic mutants and nonchimeric polygenic mutants in Arabidopsis.

Automated summary

The study established a GLABRA2 mutation-based GBVS system to enrich nonchimeric mutants in Arabidopsis T1 plants. Compared to the original system, GBVS enhanced mutation screening efficiency and allowed for quicker and more efficient obtainment of homozygous or biallelic monogenic mutants and nonchimeric polygenic mutants in Arabidopsis.