Poster Presentation International Plant Molecular Biology Conference 2024

Efficient MoClo System for Plant Genome Editing (#62)

Hendry Susila 1
  1. The Australian National University, Acton, ACT, Australia

CRISPR/Cas-based genome editing has been extensively used for site-directed mutagenesis in plants. However, part of the expression system in plants is species-specific, which means that a vector system efficient for one plant species may not be efficient for another. Furthermore, nuclear localization signals (NLS) and the presence of introns are also crucial for efficient plant genome editing. At the ARC Training Centre for Future Crops Development, we work with various crop species, including monocots and dicots, which require specific promoters and terminators to drive the expression of Cas or their guide RNA. Therefore, to efficiently create vector systems for genome editing in multiple crops, we utilize the Modular Cloning (MoClo) system, which has been widely used to assemble multiple DNA parts into functional plasmids. Our MoClo system divides into five main parts, including the promoter, N-terminal tag, coding sequence (CDS), C-terminal tag, and terminator. This system contains around 60 parts, comprising different promoters, terminators, NLSs, Cas proteins, and protein accessories for CRISPR/Cas nucleases, base editing, and prime editing, tailored to work in different plant species, including wheat, barley, canola, and carinata. In the future, this system will be used to test the efficiency of different promoters, terminators, introns, NLSs, and Cas proteins in various crops.