Plant Transformation and Gene Editing

Dr. Kedong Da , Dept of Horticultural Science
Director of the Plant Transformation Laboratory, kda@ncsu.edu
Phytotron 3003, Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, NCSU

Abstract
Plant transformation has allowed researchers to gain fundamental insights into plant biology and
revolutionized commercial agriculture. Agrobacterium transformation and biolistic bombardment (gene
gun) transformation are two commonly used plant transformation methods. Development of various
binary vector systems, selection markers, and advancements in plant tissue-culture techniques have not
only have improved the efficiency of the plant transformation method but have also expanded the range
of transformation-applicable hosts.
Gene editing technologies have ushered in a new era of genome engineering, enabling an effective,
precise, and rapid engineering of the plant genomes. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic
repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) has emerged as a new genome-editing tool.
The CRISPR/Cas9 system is an RNA-guided genome editing tool that consists of a Cas9 nuclease and a
single-guide RNA (sgRNA). By base-pairing with a DNA target sequence, the sgRNA enables Cas9 to
recognize and cut a specific target DNA sequence, generating double strand breaks (DSBs) that trigger
cell repair mechanisms and mutations at or near the DSBs sites. Since its discovery, the CRISPR/Cas9
system has revolutionized genome editing and is now becoming widely utilized to edit the genomes of a
diverse range of crop plants.
Plant transformation lab (PTL) at UC State focuses on establishing efficient plant transformation system
for various crop species aimed at gene function analysis and plant biotech

The Zoom room opens at 3:30 and the seminar begins at 3:40.

Contact CropAndSoil@ncsu.edu for Zoom URL.