Mengjuan Tong, Yinghui Zhang, Aiwei Zhang, Jingsheng Zhang, Yiqiang Li, Nan Chen, Xiaoyu Liu, Yirui Zhu, Juntao Wang, Shuailei Wang, Zhuoxuan Li, Yi Xu, Sitong Liu, Yi Guo, Rui Li
{"title":"Eukaryotic chaperonin coordinates root meristem activity by regulating SEC31B-dependent COPII vesicle trafficking of PIN auxin efflux carrier in Arabidopsis.","authors":"Mengjuan Tong, Yinghui Zhang, Aiwei Zhang, Jingsheng Zhang, Yiqiang Li, Nan Chen, Xiaoyu Liu, Yirui Zhu, Juntao Wang, Shuailei Wang, Zhuoxuan Li, Yi Xu, Sitong Liu, Yi Guo, Rui Li","doi":"10.1111/jipb.70277","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jipb.70277","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The eukaryotic chaperonin containing T-complex polypeptide-1 (CCT/TRiC) complex, composed of eight distinct subunits (CCT1-CCT8), is essential for cytosolic protein folding; however, its function in plants remains largely unexplored. Moreover, a direct link between CCT and coat protein complex II (COPII) vesicle trafficking-a key step in the early secretory pathway-has not been established in any eukaryotic system. Here, leveraging plant genetics, we investigated the functional relationship between CCT8 and COPII-mediated trafficking in the Arabidopsis root apex. The point mutant cct8-1 exhibited a short-root phenotype resulting from impaired cell division in the root meristem, which was accompanied by disrupted auxin homeostasis. This defect stemmed from a marked reduction in the abundance of multiple PIN-FORMED (PIN) auxin efflux carriers at the plasma membrane, without affecting their polar localization. Mechanistically, CCT8 directly interacted with SEC31B, a core component of the COPII coat. Accordingly, the sec31b-3 mutant phenocopied cct8-1 in root growth, auxin response, and PIN accumulation defects. The CCT8 mutation reduced SEC31B abundance at both the transcriptional and protein levels and compromised ER-to-Golgi transport, thereby diminishing PIN delivery to the plasma membrane. Importantly, overexpression of SEC31B partially rescued the root growth defects and restored PIN2 levels in cct8-1. Together, our findings uncover a previously unrecognized chaperonin-trafficking module in which CCT8 regulates SEC31B to modulate COPII-mediated delivery of PIN proteins, thus linking chaperonin function to auxin-dependent root development.</p>","PeriodicalId":195,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Integrative Plant Biology","volume":" ","pages":"3409-3425"},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147831517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Development of low-prolamin rice germplasm via CRISPR/Cas9 editing to improve eating and cooking quality.","authors":"Zhihui Chen, Yu Chen, Gexing Wan, Hui Dong, Tian Pan, Wenkun Yang, Yiyang Zhou, Bingke Luo, Yun Zhu, Xiaohang Han, Lianji Lu, Xin Wang, Cailin Lei, Zhichao Zhao, Jie Wang, Yulong Ren, Jianmin Wan","doi":"10.1111/jipb.70377","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jipb.70377","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Simultaneous editing of two major prolamin-encoding genes in rice using a single-guide RNA suppressed prolamin accumulation and reconfigured seed storage protein composition. This targeted modification markedly improved rice eating and cooking quality while maintaining the levels of total starch, total protein, and key agronomic traits.</p>","PeriodicalId":195,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Integrative Plant Biology","volume":" ","pages":"3313-3315"},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148786409","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Junya Wang, Ling Xiao, Tongxu Xin, Juan Li, Xueyong Yang
{"title":"Development of a highly efficient prime editing platform for cucurbits enables breeding of multi-disease-resistant cucumber.","authors":"Junya Wang, Ling Xiao, Tongxu Xin, Juan Li, Xueyong Yang","doi":"10.1111/jipb.70375","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jipb.70375","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The prime editing (PE) system is a precise genome editing technology that works efficiently in monocots; however, its application is limited by low editing efficiency in dicots, particularly Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae plants. Here, we first significantly improved the transformation efficiency by introducing spectinomycin in cucurbits, then used the tomato elongation factor 1-alpha (SlEF1α) promoter to enhance PE protein expression, and incorporated the Csy4 ribonuclease to process pegRNAs, collectively addressing multiple constraints limiting PE efficiency in cucurbits. The optimized PE systems, particularly Csy4-PE6d, achieved an average desired editing frequency of 80.83% at targeted loci in cucumber via stable genetic transformation, with frequencies reaching up to 100% at certain sites. Moreover, Csy4-PE6d generated homozygous edits in 36.43% of transgenic lines and demonstrated robust editing activity in melon, pumpkin, and potato. Using the Csy4-PE6d tool, we generated heritable edited cucumber lines with dual resistance to bacterial angular leaf spot and downy mildew by targeting the CsSGR gene. Collectively, this optimized system substantially enhances PE efficiency in Cucurbit crops, providing an effective solution to common challenges such as low editing efficiency and limited heritability in these species.</p>","PeriodicalId":195,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Integrative Plant Biology","volume":" ","pages":"3340-3351"},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148786422","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chen Zhang, Jingying Li, Yucai Li, Lei Yan, Christina Seok Yien Yong, Shaoya Li, Yubing He, Lanqin Xia
{"title":"Coupling of both a transactivation module and a double-stranded DNA-binding domain boosts Cas12i3 variant-based cytosine and adenine editing in plants.","authors":"Chen Zhang, Jingying Li, Yucai Li, Lei Yan, Christina Seok Yien Yong, Shaoya Li, Yubing He, Lanqin Xia","doi":"10.1111/jipb.70154","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jipb.70154","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>CRISPR/Cas12i3 belongs to the type V-I Cas system, characterized by its smaller protein size and less restricted canonical \"TTN\" protospacer adjacent motif. Developments of Cas12i3-mediated base editing systems for either C-to-T or A-to-G transitions will expand the editing scope and enrich the plant base editing toolkits for crop improvement. However, while the Cas12i3-based cytosine base editor (CBE) only shows very low editing efficiency in plants, its adenine base editor (ABE) has not been documented as yet. Here, we engineered a series of Cas12i3 (5M)-based CBEs (V0-V5) and ABEs (V0-V5) by fusing a deactivated dCas12i3 (5M) with a transactivation module VP64, a single-stranded DNA-binding domain Rad51, or a double-stranded DNA-binding domain HMG-D, or in combinations, and systemically evaluated their performance in rice protoplasts. Our results demonstrated that synergistic combinations of both VP64 and HMG-D outperformed other architectures and significantly boosted the efficiencies of Cas12i3 (5M)-based CBE and ABE for C-to-T and A-to-G base editing and expanded the editing window. In stable lines, in comparison to the non-fusion control, the optimized Cas12i3 (5M)-based CBE-V5 and ABE-V5 enabled up to 4.78- and 3.35-fold higher editing efficiencies, with the maximum C-to-T and A-to-G efficiencies reaching 32.35% and 38.24%, respectively, and a higher proportion of homozygous mutants in the T<sub>0</sub> generation. Furthermore, we generated herbicide-resistant rice germplasm by using CBE-V5 and ABE-V5, demonstrating their potential for precision breeding in crops. Together, here, we report novel Cas12i3 (5M)-based CBE and ABE that substantially enrich base editing toolkits for improvement of rice and potentially other crops.</p>","PeriodicalId":195,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Integrative Plant Biology","volume":" ","pages":"3196-3207"},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146049840","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Optimized TadA-derived base editors efficiently manipulate mRNA splicing by A-to-G and C-to-K editing in potato.","authors":"Kaiyuan Chen, Yan Zhang, Jiuzhou Deng, Lumin Zhang, Huiying Zhou, Yaxin Duan, Enle Xiao, Guangtao Zhu, Chunzhi Zhang","doi":"10.1111/jipb.70263","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jipb.70263","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) splicing is a critical mechanism for post-transcriptional regulation in plants. Through alternative splicing, plants produce diverse transcriptomes and proteomes that finely regulate development as well as responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. However, modulating the generation of specific splicing isoforms for functional characterization remains challenging, particularly in the non-model crop potato. Here, we show that two optimized TadA-derived base editors efficiently induce diverse mRNA splice variants by targeting specific splice sites. By evaluating multiple adenosine deaminases and performing multi-dimensional optimization, we developed an efficient adenine base editor RTF-ABE8e for potato. RTF-ABE8e achieved 100% editing efficiency at two StDL1 target sites in stable transgenic potato, with homozygous editing frequencies as high as 93.3% and 91.1%, respectively. We also developed RTF-TadDE, a dual-base editor based on a TadA-derived dual deaminase, for A-to-G and C-to-K (K = T/G) mutations in potato with an overall editing efficiency comparable to that of RTF-ABE8e. By targeting different splice sites with these base editors, we obtained diverse splicing isoforms carrying premature termination codons (PTCs) at StDL1 and StPDS and robust mutant phenotypes. These base editors enable efficient and precise editing of splice sites to trigger missplicing, making them powerful tools for manipulating splicing in plants.</p>","PeriodicalId":195,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Integrative Plant Biology","volume":" ","pages":"3329-3339"},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147727778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Engineering herbicide-resistant sorghum with CRISPR/Cas9-mediated adenine base editing.","authors":"Jianshuang Zhou, Ruirui Li, Zhi Wang, Shaoxiong Liu, Lingyue Shi, Xiao Fu, Fei Li, Ji Zhang, Guiying Li, Jinjie Zhu, Qian Qian, Baoqing Dun","doi":"10.1111/jipb.70298","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jipb.70298","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>An adenine base-editing system was established to precisely modify the sorghum SbALS gene, generating transgene-free mutant plants. These plants exhibit strong herbicide resistance, with no significant differences in agronomic traits, providing valuable germplasm for herbicide-resistance breeding in sorghum.</p>","PeriodicalId":195,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Integrative Plant Biology","volume":" ","pages":"3292-3294"},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147969097","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"CasY7: An optimized Cas12i system for enhanced genome editing in monocot crops.","authors":"Dating Zhong, Yanxiao Dong, Hong Pan, Yanan Fu, Yining Zhao, Shuting Ruan, Wencong Yu, Yiwen Wang, Qianlan Yin, Yanfei Zhang, Yisen Huang, Jiaqi Shen, Hongling Zhang, Yuxuan Wu, Jieting Xu, Yuming Lu","doi":"10.1111/jipb.70181","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jipb.70181","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The CRISPR-Cas12 family nucleases, particularly the Cas12i subtypes, are considered promising alternatives to Cas9 for genome editing in plants. We previously developed a new Cas12i variant, CasY7, which has been successfully applied in clinical trials; its performance in plants remains to be investigated. Initial testing in stable transgenic maize and rice showed that the codon-optimized CasY7 (pCasY7e1) achieved average editing efficiencies of 58.7% and 62.3% across five target sites, respectively, outperforming the typical Cpf1 (pCpf1) control that targets the same sites. To further enhance activity, we fused T5 exonuclease to CasY7 (pCasY7e2), which shifted mutation profiles toward larger deletions, and subsequently integrated an MS2 aptamer into the crRNA scaffold (pCasY7e3). The optimized pCasY7e3 system increased editing efficiencies to 87.7% in maize and 82.9% in rice-approximately 2.7-fold higher than pCpf1. We further demonstrated multiplexed editing in maize, generating biallelic dwarf mutants, and validated functionality in hexaploid wheat with editing efficiencies up to 58.8%. Overall, our comprehensive validation across 942 transgenic plants confirmed robust editing in maize, rice, and wheat, establishing CasY7 as a high-efficiency addition to the CRISPR toolkit.</p>","PeriodicalId":195,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Integrative Plant Biology","volume":" ","pages":"3208-3219"},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147429499","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The mechanism of newly differentiated leaves of kale turning white in late autumn.","authors":"Zhichao Gong, Yupeng He, Xinyuan Li, Zhiwei Zhang, Shuonan Wang, Jie Ren, Hui Feng","doi":"10.1111/jipb.70250","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jipb.70250","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Newly differentiated leaves of albino ornamental kale turn white as exposed to low temperatures, producing a distinctive and commercially desirable unique color pattern. Here, we show that this low-temperature-induced albinism is caused by a mutation in the kale F-box gene BoWl. Using yeast two-hybrid, pull-down, co-immunoprecipitation, and luciferase complementation assays, we demonstrate that BoWl interacts with the transcription factor BoARF1 to form a functional complex. Complementary yeast one-hybrid, electrophoretic mobility shift, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and luciferase assays reveal that this complex activates BoGLK1, a regulator of chloroplast development and chlorophyll synthesis. In the albino line, a mutation in BoWl results in abnormal chloroplast structure and disrupts chlorophyll synthesis. We further identify BoCBF1/BoPHL2 as a low-temperature responsive regulatory module that transcriptionally activates BoWl expression. Together, these findings define a molecular pathway linking cold perception to transcriptional regulation associated with leaf whitening in ornamental kale, providing new insight into how low temperature influences genetically controlled leaf color variation.</p>","PeriodicalId":195,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Integrative Plant Biology","volume":" ","pages":"3352-3373"},"PeriodicalIF":12.5,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147607683","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}