CRISPRs, Engineered into Plants, Protect Them From Damaging Viruses

Abstract

Engineering the CRISPR/Cas9 system to protect tobacco-like Nicotiana benthamiana plants from the tomato yellow leaf-curl virus (TYLCV) geminivirus leads to a “significant reduction in viral accumulation and disease symptoms,” report Magdy Mahfouz and his colleagues at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. This same approach can likely be used to protect a variety of crop plants against other viruses, underscoring its broad applicability, they point out.