Use of CRISPR/Cas9 for Targeted Mutagenesis in Sorghum.

Char SN, Lee H, Yang B

Published: 6 June 2020 in Current protocols in plant biology
Keywords: Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, CRISPR/Cas9, genome editing, sorghum, targeted mutagenesis
Pubmed ID: 32501639
DOI: 10.1002/cppb.20112

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) fulfills the demand for bioenergy resources and also provides substantial diet calories to the world's population. Therefore, many biological studies use sorghum as a research model for improvement of the domesticated food and bioenergy crops. Furthermore, leveraging genome editing systems in a plethora of grass plant species has been extensively studied with no exception in sorghum. However, a protocol that details the genome editing strategies using CRISPR/Cas9 and that combines an efficient tissue culture and transformation platform in sorghum based on Agrobacterium-mediated DNA transfer has yet to be reported. This protocol outlines the steps and workflow from design of sorghum CRISPR target sites using BTx623 as a reference genome, construction of sorghum CRISPR/Cas9 plasmids, tissue culture, to Agrobacterium-mediated transformation followed by genotyping of CRISPR/Cas9 induced mutants. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC. Basic Protocol 1: Construction of CRISPR/Cas9 expression vector to analysis of CRISPR-edited plants Basic Protocol 2: Stable transformation of sorghum Support Protocol: Management of sorghum plants in a greenhouse.