Using of Genome Editing Methods in Plant Breeding

The main task of plant breeding is creating of high-yield, resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses crop varieties with high product quality. The using of traditional breeding methods is limited by the duration of the new crop varieties creation with the required agronomic traits. This depends not only on the duration of growing season and reaching of mature stage of plants (especially the long-period growth plants, e.g. trees), as well as is associated with applying of multiple stages of crossing, selection and testing in breeding process. In addition, conventional methods of chemical and physical mutagenesis do not allow targeting effect to genome. However, the introduction of modern DNA-technology methods, such as genome editing, has opened in a new era in plant breeding. These methods allow to carry out precise and efficient targeted genome modifications, significantly reducing the time required to get plants with desirable features to create new crop varieties in perspective. This review provides the knowledge about application of genome editing methods to increase crop yields and product quality, as well as crop resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. In addition, future prospects for integrating these technologies into crop breeding strategies are also discussed

Cotton as a Model for Polyploidy and Fiber Development Study

Cotton is one of the most important crops in the world. The Gossypium genus is represented by 50 species, divided into two levels of ploidy: diploid (2n = 26) and tetraploid (2n = 52). This diversity of Gossypium species provides an ideal model for studying the evolution and domestication of polyploids. In this regard, studies of the origin and evolution of polyploid cotton species are crucial for understanding the ways and mechanisms of gene and genome evolution. In addition, studies of polyploidization of the cotton genome will allow to more accurately determine the localization of QTLs that determine fiber quality. In addition, due to the fact that cotton fibers are single trichomes originating from epidermal cells, they are one of the most favorable model systems for studying the molecular mechanisms of regulation of cell and cell wall elongation, as well as cellulose biosynthesis

Genome Editing in Plants: An Overview of Tools and Applications

The emergence of genome manipulation methods promises a real revolution in biotechnology and genetic engineering. Targeted editing of the genomes of living organisms not only permits investigations into the understanding of the fundamental basis of biological systems but also allows addressing a wide range of goals towards improving productivity and quality of crops. This includes the creation of plants with valuable compositional properties and with traits that confer resistance to various biotic and abiotic stresses. During the past few years, several novel genome editing systems have been developed; these include zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/Cas9 (CRISPR/Cas9). These exciting new methods, briefly reviewed herein, have proved themselves as effective and reliable tools for the genetic improvement of plants

Data_Sheet_2_Tomato-made edible COVID-19 vaccine TOMAVAC induces neutralizing IgGs in the blood sera of mice and humans.docx

Plant-based edible vaccines that provide two-layered protection against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outweigh the currently used parenteral types of vaccines, which predominantly cause a systemic immune response. Here, we engineered and selected a transgenic tomato genotype (TOMAVAC) that stably synthesized an antigenic S1 protein of SARS-CoV-2. Two-course spaced force-feeding of mice with ≈5.4 μg/ml TOMAVAC increased up to 16-fold the synthesis of RBD-specific NAbs in blood serum and the significant induction of S-IgA in intestinal lavage fluid. In a surrogate virus neutralization test, TOMAVAC-induced NAbs had 15–25% viral neutralizing activity. The results suggested early evidence of the immunogenicity and protectivity of TOMAVAC against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. Furthermore, we observed a positive trend of statistically significant 1.2-fold (average of +42.28 BAU/ml) weekly increase in NAbs in the volunteers' serum relative to the initial day. No severe side effects were observed, preliminarily supporting the safety of TOMAVAC. With the completion of future large-scale studies, higher-generation TOMAVAC should be a cost-effective, ecologically friendly, and widely applicable novel-generation COVID-19 vaccine, providing two-layered protection against SARS-CoV-2.</p

Data_Sheet_1_Tomato-made edible COVID-19 vaccine TOMAVAC induces neutralizing IgGs in the blood sera of mice and humans.docx

Plant-based edible vaccines that provide two-layered protection against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outweigh the currently used parenteral types of vaccines, which predominantly cause a systemic immune response. Here, we engineered and selected a transgenic tomato genotype (TOMAVAC) that stably synthesized an antigenic S1 protein of SARS-CoV-2. Two-course spaced force-feeding of mice with ≈5.4 μg/ml TOMAVAC increased up to 16-fold the synthesis of RBD-specific NAbs in blood serum and the significant induction of S-IgA in intestinal lavage fluid. In a surrogate virus neutralization test, TOMAVAC-induced NAbs had 15–25% viral neutralizing activity. The results suggested early evidence of the immunogenicity and protectivity of TOMAVAC against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. Furthermore, we observed a positive trend of statistically significant 1.2-fold (average of +42.28 BAU/ml) weekly increase in NAbs in the volunteers' serum relative to the initial day. No severe side effects were observed, preliminarily supporting the safety of TOMAVAC. With the completion of future large-scale studies, higher-generation TOMAVAC should be a cost-effective, ecologically friendly, and widely applicable novel-generation COVID-19 vaccine, providing two-layered protection against SARS-CoV-2.</p