PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Repairing a domestication mutation in tomato leads to an earlier yield

Repairing a domestication mutation in tomato leads to an earlier yield
2025-01-08
(Press-News.org)

Genome editing with CRISPR-Cas is often associated with the induction of mutations. However, a team of researchers from the Swiss University of Lausanne now shows that it can also be used to repair natural mutations.

All living organisms mutate, which is a major driver of biodiversity and evolution. Humans have been domesticating plants for thousands of years, by selecting mutations that lead to favorable characteristics such as larger or more numerous fruits. However, this process often caused the co-selection of other undesirable mutations that can have negative effects on plant growth and development. This phenomenon is called the “cost of domestication”.

The selection and combination of mutations is also essential for breeding new crop varieties. To increase the frequency at which mutations occur, plants are exposed to chemicals or radiation. But this mutagenesis approach is random and makes breeding of new varieties very time consuming. Genome editing with CRISPR-Cas is a new approach to introduce mutations into the genome of plants - in a precise and predictable manner. Even better, with genome editing it is not only possible to induce mutations, but also to repair existing ones: this was shown by researchers of the University of Lausanne in a paper published in Nature Genetics. And not in any plant! The biologists of the Department of Plant Molecular Biology (DBMV) at the Faculty of Biology and Medicine, published their work on the second most consumed vegetable crop (or fruit for insiders) worldwide after the potato: the tomato.

Using CRISPR to harvest earlier

Researchers in the laboratory of Sebastian Soyk, assistant professor at the DBMV used a genome editing technology, called base editing, to change one of the ~850 million DNA base pairs in the genome of the tomato to repair an unfavorable domestication mutation. Anna Glaus, doctoral student in the research group, first selected and then investigated the mutated and repaired plants. “To obtain these results, I characterized 72 plants and harvested during two consecutive days 4’500 fruits that I sorted by size, weight, and maturity (red or green) and measured their sugar content”, explains Anna Glaus.

By repairing the deleterious domestication mutation with genome editing, the Swiss researchers have obtained a tomato variety that is earlier yielding. Considering,  the Swiss moratorium banning the growth of genetically modified organism (GMO), which expires in June 2025, this new study is thought-provoking. “We show here the varied application of genome editing and its benefit for agriculture”, says Anna Glaus. “It is important to take this scientific data into consideration when thinking about the legal frame of genome editing. With genome editing we have now the tools at hand to precisely re-write the genetic code and make crop breeding more predictable”, says Sebastian Soyk. “We should now combine this ability with other directions in breeding and agricultural research, such as agroecology, to make agriculture more resilient and sustainable”.

END


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Repairing a domestication mutation in tomato leads to an earlier yield

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Focal volume optics for composite structuring in transparent solids

Focal volume optics for composite structuring in transparent solids
2025-01-08
For a long time, an ultrafast laser has been applied as a point-typed energy source to trigger various material modifications, and the profile of light intensity is mainly considered a Gaussian type. Therefore, the actual morphology and evolution of the light field in the focal volume have been overlooked. In International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, researchers indicates that the 3D spatial distribution of the light field at the focus can possess finer structures and is tunable, which offers a novel strategy for highly controllable micro-nano fabrication with more degrees of freedom beyond conventional point-by-point optical modification. It is proposed and experimentally demonstrated ...

Novel mix-charged nanofiltration membrane developed for high-salinity wastewater treatment

Novel mix-charged nanofiltration membrane developed for high-salinity wastewater treatment
2025-01-08
A research team led by Prof. WAN Yinhua at the Institute of Process Engineering (IPE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has recently developed an innovative mix-charged nanofiltration (NF) membrane featuring horizontal charge distribution, designed specifically for wastewater treatment. This novel membrane exhibits remarkable salt permeation and organic matter retention capabilities as well as antifouling properties, making it particularly effective for treating high-salinity organic wastewater. The findings ...

Fishy business: Male medaka mating limits revealed

Fishy business: Male medaka mating limits revealed
2025-01-08
Working out the kinks of mating in the animal kingdom helps to gain insights into the survival of species. Among animals that have multiple partners who deposit eggs outside their body, such as most fish, the males release sperm several times a day, but producing these gametes requires energy and time. Osaka Metropolitan University experts on fish behavior have recently uncovered a daily mating capacity for medaka. In findings published in Royal Society Open Science, Graduate School of Science Specially Appointed Dr. Yuki Kondo, Specially Appointed Professor Masanori Kohda, and Professor Satoshi Awata detailed the effects of continuous mating by medaka ...

Morning coffee may protect the heart better than all-day coffee drinking

Morning coffee may protect the heart better than all-day coffee drinking
2025-01-08
People who drink coffee in the morning have a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and a lower overall mortality risk compared to all-day coffee drinkers, according to research published in the European Heart Journal [1] today (Wednesday).   The research was led by Dr Lu Qi, HCA Regents Distinguished Chair and Professor at the Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University, New Orleans, USA. He said: “Research so far suggests that drinking coffee doesn’t raise the risk of cardiovascular disease, and it ...

For many low-income single moms, government aid serves as their paid family leave, study shows

For many low-income single moms, government aid serves as their paid family leave, study shows
2025-01-08
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The majority of low-income single mothers in Oregon who rely on federal cash assistance around the time of childbirth are in the program for less than a year, suggesting they’re using it as a form of paid family leave, Oregon State University research shows. The first-of-its-kind study has important implications in the state, which in 2023 established a taxpayer-funded paid family leave program, and throughout the United States as poverty has a particularly high incidence among young children. “Understanding how mothers ...

Tumor-secreted protein may hold the key to better treatments for deadly brain tumor, study finds

2025-01-08
A study co-led by UCLA scientists has found targeting a protein called endocan and its related signaling pathway could be a promising new approach for treating glioblastoma, an aggressive and lethal type of brain cancer. The team of researchers discovered that endocan, which is produced by endothelial cells lining blood vessels in the tumor, activates PDGFRA, a receptor on glioblastoma cells that drives tumor growth and makes the cancer resistant to standard therapies such as radiation. The discovery, published in Nature Communications, suggests a path toward the development of therapies that specifically inhibit ...

Ready to quit vaping in the new year? A new study uncovers the best ways

Ready to quit vaping in the new year? A new study uncovers the best ways
2025-01-08
A new study, co-led by a University of Massachusetts Amherst researcher, set out to identify the most effective strategies for helping people quit vaping. The findings, published today in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, suggest that varenicline, a prescription medication often used to help people stop smoking, and text message-based interventions can help people quit.   “This is an area of research that is in its infancy, but is growing rapidly and organically from people who vape asking about help to quit vaping,” says senior author Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, assistant professor of health policy and management in the School ...

Regular physical activity before cancer diagnosis may lower progression and death risks

2025-01-08
Regular physical activity before a cancer diagnosis may lower the risks of both disease progression and death, suggests research published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. And even relatively low levels of physical activity may be advantageous, the findings indicate. There is compelling evidence that physical activity has a key part to play in lowering the risk of death from cancer, but the evidence isn’t as conclusive for its role in disease progression, explain the researchers. To explore this further, they analysed anonymised data from the Discovery Health Medical Scheme (DHMS), linked to the Vitality health promotion programme. The DHMS is the ...

Basking too long in a sauna without adequate hydration may risk heat stroke, doctors warn

2025-01-08
Basking too long in a sauna may put bathers at risk of heat stroke, particularly if they haven’t drunk enough water beforehand, warn doctors in the journal BMJ Case Reports, after treating a woman whose condition required admission to hospital. Although relatively rare, heat stroke can be life threatening, even in the absence of various underlying risk factors, such as heart, lung, or neurological disease, and heavy drinking or taking a cocktail of prescription meds, they point out. Heat stroke is defined as a sharp increase in core body temperature above ...

DNA adds new chapter to Indonesia’s layered human history

DNA adds new chapter to Indonesia’s layered human history
2025-01-08
A new study from the University of Adelaide and The Australian National University (ANU) has outlined the first genomic evidence of early migration from New Guinea into the Wallacea, an archipelago containing Timor-Leste and hundreds of inhabited eastern Indonesian islands. The study, published in PNAS, addresses major gaps in the human genetic history of the Wallacean Archipelago and West Papuan regions of Indonesia – a region with abundant genetic and linguistic diversity that is comparable to the Eurasian ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Einstein Probe releases its Science White Paper

Music-based therapy may improve depressive symptoms in people with dementia

No evidence that substituting NHS doctors with physician associates is necessarily safe

At-home brain speed tests bridge cognitive data gaps

CRF appoints Josep Rodés-Cabau, M.D., Ph.D., as editor-in-chief of structural heart: the journal of the heart team

Violent crime is indeed a root cause of migration, according to new study

Customized smartphone app shows promise in preventing further cognitive decline among older adults diagnosed with mild impairment

Impact of COVID-19 on education not going away, UM study finds

School of Public Health researchers receive National Academies grant to assess environmental conditions in two Houston neighborhoods

Three Speculum articles recognized with prizes

ACM A.M. Turing Award honors two researchers who led the development of cornerstone AI technology

Incarcerated people are disproportionately impacted by climate change, CU doctors say

ESA 2025 Graduate Student Policy Award Cohort Named

Insomnia, lack of sleep linked to high blood pressure in teens

Heart & stroke risks vary among Asian American, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander adults

Levels of select vitamins & minerals in pregnancy may be linked to lower midlife BP risk

Large study of dietary habits suggests more plant oils, less butter could lead to better health

Butter and plant-based oils intake and mortality

20% of butterflies in the U.S. have disappeared since 2000

Bacterial ‘jumping genes’ can target and control chromosome ends

Scientists identify genes that make humans and Labradors more likely to become obese

Early-life gut microbes may protect against diabetes, research in mice suggests

Study raises the possibility of a country without butterflies

Study reveals obesity gene in dogs that is relevant to human obesity studies

A rapid decline in US butterfly populations

Indigenous farming practices have shaped manioc’s genetic diversity for millennia

Controlling electrons in molecules at ultrafast timescales

Tropical forests in the Americas are struggling to keep pace with climate change

Brain mapping unlocks key Alzheimer’s insights

Clinical trial tests novel stem-cell treatment for Parkinson’s disease

[Press-News.org] Repairing a domestication mutation in tomato leads to an earlier yield