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Removing the toxic enantiomer from crop products with selective gene editing

Nature Plants volume 9, pages 513–514 (2023)Cite this article

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Gossypol is a defense compound in cotton; both axially chiral gossypol enantiomers confer pest resistance, but (−)-gossypol is toxic for humans. We identified a gene (GhDIR5) that selectively promotes (−)-gossypol synthesis. GhDIR5 knockout enabled the production of (−)-gossypol-depleted cottonseeds without affecting pest resistance.

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Fig. 1: GhDIR5 editing blocks (−)-gossypol formation in cottonseeds.

References

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This is a summary of: Lin, J.-L. et al. Dirigent gene editing of gossypol enantiomers for toxicity-depleted cotton seeds. Nat. Plants https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-023-01376-2 (2023).

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Removing the toxic enantiomer from crop products with selective gene editing. Nat. Plants 9, 513–514 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-023-01380-6

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