Abstract
Global population growth and climate change are posing increasing challenges to the production of a stable crop supply using current agricultural practices. The generation of genetically modified (GM) crops has contributed to improving crop stress tolerance and productivity; however, many regulations are still in place that limit their commercialization. Recently, alternative biotechnology-based strategies, such as gene-edited (GE) crops, have been in the spotlight. Gene-editing technology, based on the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) platform, has emerged as a revolutionary tool for targeted gene mutation, and has received attention as a game changer in the global biotechnology market. Here, we briefly introduce the concept of upstream open reading frames (uORFs) editing, which allows for control of the translation of downstream ORFs, and outline the potential for enhancing target gene expression by mutating uORFs. We discuss the current status of developing stress-tolerant crops, and discuss uORF targets associated with salt stress-responsive genes in rice that have already been verified by transgenic research. Finally, we overview the strategy for developing GE crops using uORF editing via the CRISPR-Cas9 system. A case is therefore made that the mutation of uORFs represents an efficient method for developing GE crops and an expansion of the scope of application of genome editing technology.
Highlights
Crop productivity is increasingly threatened by climate change, and this issue is exacerbated by the growing global population
It is expected that the global population will reach almost 9 billion by 2050, and the expansion of urbanization will result in an 80% loss of agricultural land by 2030 in Asia and Africa
Are induced by specific environmental conditions, stress-tolerant crops, focusing on the enhancement of the target gene expression by the and it is known that mutations of upstream open reading frames (uORFs) sequences reduce their capacity for negative mutation of uORF
Summary
Crop productivity is increasingly threatened by climate change, and this issue is exacerbated by the growing global population. Regulatory crop productivity through genetic improvement in safety relatively short time frames compared hurdles for GM crop commercialization, including evaluation, have necessitated todevelopment traditional breeding approaches [5] Their generation can enhance theof unthe of alternative strategies involving gene-editing (GE), such as the use derstanding of molecular mechanisms that affect plant development and defense, and this zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs), TAL effector nucleases (TALENs), and clustered regularly information has palindromic provided opportunities to improve yield. Most stressThis review describes the strategic application of uORF sequences for developing salt responsive transcripts harboring uORF are induced by specific environmental conditions, stress-tolerant crops, focusing on the enhancement of the target gene expression by the and it is known that mutations of uORF sequences reduce their capacity for negative mutation of uORF regulation [19,20].using CRISPR-Cas (Figure 1B), and discusses a general approach for developing GE crops using uORF editing.
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