Establishing Programmable CRISPR/Cas13b-Mediated Knockdown System in Rice
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: CRISPR-Cas endonucleases mediate prokaryotic adaptive immunity by targeting foreign nucleic acids. CRISPR/Cas13b is a class 2 type VI-B ribonuclease that targets and cleaves single-stranded RNA. It exhibits higher RNA interference activity than Cas13a and Cas13c and causes fewer collateral effects than RxCas13d in mammalian cells. However, a programmable CRISPR/Cas13b-mediated RNA interference system for endogenous transcripts in rice has not yet been established. Here, we developed a CRISPR/Cas13b-mediated system to target endogenous transcripts in rice. Our CRISPR/Cas13b system could inhibit multiple endogenous mRNAs simultaneously. In addition, this system efficiently repressed endogenous long noncoding RNAs with more than 50% inhibition in stable transgenic plants. Furthermore, we found only weak collateral effects of the CRISPR/Cas13b-mediated system at the transcriptome-wide level, and no difference in the agronomic traits of stable transgenic rice in the field. We present a programmable CRISPR/Cas13b-mediated knockdown system for rice, offering a potential biotechnological tool for functional genomics and crop improvement.
Source: Rice Science
Authors: Wang Shuman, Zhang Linqi, Gao Ruiren, Wei Guangbo, Dong Weiguo, Xu Jiming, Wang Zhiye
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: diamond
Funders: National Natural Science Foundation of China, National University's Basic Research Foundation of China, Key Technologies Research and Development Program, National Key Research and Development Program of China, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province
OpenAlex ID: W4408031579