Simultaneous Modification of Three Homoeologs of TaEDR1 by Genome Editing Enhances Powdery Mildew Resistance in Wheat
    作者: Yunwei Zhang, Yang Bai, Guangheng Wu, Shenghao Zou, Yongfang Chen, Caixia Gao, Dingzhong Tang
    刊物名称: Plant Journal
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    摘要:
    Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) incurs significant yield losses from powdery mildew, a major fungal disease caused by Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici, (Bgt). ENHANCED DISEASE RESISTANCE1 (EDR1) plays a negative role in the defense response against powdery mildew in Arabidopsis thaliana; however, the edr1 mutant does not show constitutively activated defense responses. This makes EDR1 an ideal target for approaches using new genome-editing tools to improve powdery mildew resistance. We cloned TaEDR1 from hexaploid wheat and found high similarity among the three homoeologs of EDR1. Knock-down of TaEDR1 by virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) or RNA interference (RNAi) enhanced resistance to powdery mildew, indicating that TaEDR1 negatively regulates powdery mildew resistance in wheat. We used CRISPR/Cas9 technology to generate Taedr1 wheat plants by simultaneous modification of the three homoeologs of wheat EDR1. No off-target mutations were detected in the Taedr1 mutant plants. The Taedr1 plants were resistant to powdery mildew and did not show mildew-induced cell death. Our study represents the successful generation of a potentially valuable trait using genome-editing technology in wheat and provides germplasm for disease resistance breeding.