![]() ![]() This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Written by: Luis Sandoval, Communications Specialist | | 51 Looking ahead, it may also help humanity adapt crops to meet the ever-evolving needs of society. Lippman and McCandlish hope their collaborative interpretation will help science meet the challenge. ![]() Plant genetics and computational biology offer two means of deciphering the text. The book of evolution has been written in all different languages, many of which we’re still learning. “Once you start making 10, 20 mutations, the probability of having unanticipated results may increase.” “The field will have to grapple with this as we start to make more highly engineered organisms,” says McCandlish. Lippman and McCandlish’s work suggests the role of background mutations demands reassessment. The question is how predictable is it going to be.” ![]() “Is genome editing a way to quickly bring in consumer benefits-better flavor, nutrition? The answer is probably yes. Context matters when introducing new crop mutations. New research by McCandlish and Lippman may help us better understand genetic predictability. Remarkably, the most beneficial effect involved two mutations that arose millennia ago and were central in tomato domestication. Mutations in one gene produced predictable changes in tomato size, but mutations in another yielded random outcomes. They found the SlCLV3 mutations produced more predictable effects when certain other mutations were also present. Lyndsey Aguirre, a CSHL School of Biological Sciences graduate, led the project.Īltogether, they created 46 tomato strains with different combinations of mutations. The mutations affected the number of locules, or seed pockets, resulting in different fruit sizes. A collection of tomatoes with different combinations of artificial and natural mutations. (Natural mutation of this gene is known to increase fruit size.) They then combined those mutations with others in genes that work with SlCLV3. Using CRISPR, they created a series of mutations in the SlCLV3 gene. To do so, they turned back the evolutionary clock.ĬSHL Professor & HHMI Investigator Zachary Lippman and Associate Professor David McCandlish wondered if different natural and engineered mutations could have similar effects on tomato size depending on the presence of two other gene mutations. Now, a plant geneticist and a computational scientist at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have teamed up to explore just how predictable plant breeding actually is with natural and CRISPR mutations. ![]() And what if just one could dramatically alter the desired outcome of an engineered mutation? These changes have been sowed by evolution and agricultural history. Each operates in a sea of thousands of so-called “background” mutations. However, individual mutations, whether natural or engineered, don’t work alone. Today, CRISPR genome editing allows us to make new crop mutations that improve traits even further. For centuries, we’ve bred and cherry-picked tomatoes with our preferred traits.
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