Rapid customization of Solanaceae fruit crops for urban agriculture

First author: Choon-Tak Kwon; Affiliations: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (冷泉港实验室): NY, USA

Corresponding author: Zachary B. Lippman

Cultivation of crops in urban environments might reduce the environmental impact of food production. However, lack of available land in cities and a need for rapid crop cycling, to yield quickly and continuously, mean that so far only lettuce and related ‘leafy green’ vegetables are cultivated in urban farms. New fruit varieties with architectures and yields suitable for urban farming have proven difficult to breed. We identified a regulator of tomato stem length (SlER) and devised a trait-stacking strategy to combine mutations for condensed shoots, rapid flowering (SP5G) and precocious growth termination (SP). Application of our strategy using one-step CRISPR–Cas9 genome editing restructured vine-like tomato plants into compact, early yielding plants suitable for urban agriculture. Field data confirmed that yields were maintained, and we demonstrated cultivation in indoor farming systems. Targeting the same stem length regulator alone in groundcherry, another Solanaceae plant, also enabled engineering to a compact stature. Our approach can expand the repertoire of crops for urban agriculture.

作物在城市环境中的栽培可能会减少粮食产量对于环境的负面影响。然而，城市中缺少可用于栽培作物所需的土地资源，并且缺少生长周期快、结实快且持续的作物品种，这意味着目前为止城市农场中仅有生菜和相关的“绿叶”蔬菜能够用于实际生产。目前，很难培育出有着适应城市农场的结构和产量的水果品种。作者鉴定了一个番茄茎秆长度的调控基因SlER，并且设计了一种性状堆叠策略，将具有密集的芽、快速开花（SP5G）和提前生长终止（SP）等突变结合到一起。通过此策略，作者利用一步法CRISPR–Cas9基因组编辑技术将葡萄状西红柿重构成更加适应城市栽培的更加紧凑型、早产的植株。产量数据显示编辑后的植株产量并无明显下降，并且室内农场系统的栽培情况良好。对茄科另一植物地面樱桃，作者针对同一个茎长调节基因进行了基因组编辑，也获得了植株结构更加紧凑的栽培种。总的来说，本文作者提出的策略将有利于扩展适用于城市农业的栽培种作物。

通讯：Zachary B. Lippman (https://www.cshl.edu/research/faculty-staff/zachary-lippman/)

个人简介：2004年，冷泉港实验室，博士。

研究方向：植物开花调控。

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-019-0361-2

Journal: Nature Biotechnology

Published date: December 23, 2019