Engineered Geminivirus Replicons Enable Rapid in Planta Directed Evolution
    作者: Haocheng Zhu, Xu Qin, Leyan Wei, Dandan Jiang, Qiao Zhang, Wenqian Wang, Ronghong Liang, Rui Zhang, Kang Zhang, Guanwen Liu, Kevin Tianmeng Zhao, Kunling Chen, Jin-Long Qiu, Caixia Gao
    刊物名称: Science
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    发布时间: 2025-10-03
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    摘要:
    Directed evolution can rapidly generate genetic variants with new and enhanced properties, yet efficient platforms for performing such evolution directly in plant cells have been lacking. We developed Geminivirus Replicon-Assisted in Planta Directed Evolution (GRAPE), a system that links gene function to geminivirus rolling circle replication (RCR) to enable high-throughput selection for desired activities. GRAPE supports the screening of up to 105 variants on a single Nicotiana benthamiana leaf within four days. Using GRAPE, we evolved the immune receptor NRC3 to resist inhibition by the nematode effector SPRYSEC15 and broadened the recognition spectrum of the rice immune receptor Pikm-1 to recognize all six alleles of the fungal effector AVR-Pik. GRAPE provides a rapid, scalable, and generalizable platform for directed evolution of diverse genes in plant cellular context.