Comparative Study between the CRISPR/Cpf1 (Cas12a) and CRISPR/Cas9 Systems for Multiplex Gene Editing in Maize

Chongzhi Gong, Shengchan Huang, Rentao Song and Weiwei Qi
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Chongzhi Gong: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Bio-Energy Crops, School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China
Shengchan Huang: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Bio-Energy Crops, School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China
Rentao Song: State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, National Maize Improvement Center, Beijing Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Joint International Research Laboratory of Crop Molecular Breeding, College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Weiwei Qi: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Bio-Energy Crops, School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 5, 1-11

Abstract: Although the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) system has been proved to be an efficient multiplex gene editing system in maize, it was still unclear how CRISPR/Cpf1 (Cas12a) system would perform for multiplex gene editing in maize. To this end, this study compared the CRISPR/Cpf1 system and CRISPR/Cas9 system for multiplex gene editing in maize. The bZIP transcription factor Opaque2 ( O2 ) was used as the target gene in both systems. We found that in the T0 and T1 generations, the CRISPR/Cpf1 system showed lower editing efficiency than the CRISPR/Cas9 system. However, in the T2 generation, the CRISPR/Cpf1 system generated more types of new mutations. While the CRISPR/Cas9 system tended to edit within the on-target range, the CRISPR/Cpf1 system preferred to edit in between the targets. We also found that in the CRISPR/Cpf1 system, the editing efficiency positively correlated with the expression level of Cpf1. In conclusion, the CRISPR/Cpf1 system offers alternative choices for target-site selection for multiplex gene editing and has acceptable editing efficiency in maize and is a valuable alternative choice for gene editing in crops.

Keywords: multiplex gene editing; Cpf1; CRISPR/Cas; maize genetics; editing efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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