黑料吃瓜资源

Tomatoes and potatoes have a lot of relatives. Their nightshade genus includes over 1,500 distinct species. But not all are as friendly as those beloved staple foods. Lurking amongst them is a prickly purple devil with a supervillainous moniker.

Its name? Malevolence.

Some plants just hate us. Malevolence is covered in sharp, 1-to-1.5-inch-long barbs鈥攖he largest and most pronounced among all nightshades. It gets worse. The Brazilian native鈥檚 branches, leaves, and fruit are all toxic. Its sap irritates the skin on contact. Traditionally, it would take generations to breed out these undesirable traits. But that鈥檚 no longer necessarily the case, thanks to a recent breakthrough at 黑料吃瓜资源 (CSHL). Now, with CRISPR gene editing technology, this long, selective process can be completed faster and easier than ever before.

Farmers have been genetically modifying plants since the dawn of agriculture. This has led to higher yields, less pesticide use, and better adaptation to climate change. Most gene editing focuses on familiar, industrial-scale crops. But other semi-domesticated, indigenous crops could one day be scaled up as well. That is, if they can acquire the right traits鈥攐r lose the wrong ones.

CSHL Professor and HHMI Investigator Zachary Lippman and postdoc Jack Satterlee are leveraging CRISPR to shine a light on the genetics behind extreme traits like malevolence鈥檚 barbs. With the help of gene editing technology, even this devilish plant might one day turn over a new leaf.

鈥淲e鈥檙e interested in this trait from two perspectives,鈥� Satterlee says. 鈥淥ne is crop domestication鈥攗sing CRISPR to get rid of the prickles because they鈥檙e really unpleasant. And the other is the genetics of how the prickles are controlled.鈥�

Genetic editing is a specialty of the Lippman lab. They鈥檝e previously used CRISPR to create tomatoes with faster flowering and ripening times. Lippman and his team are also working to scale up related crops like groundcherry and African eggplant. Their efforts to bring groundcherry to market led to the first genetic blueprints, or models, for two types of the small, sweet berry.

Taming malevolence could point to new ways of controlling gene expression in crops and other plants. Lippman and Satterlee鈥檚 recent work has brought them one step closer. They discovered that suppressing members of the LONELY GUY (LOG) gene family can reduce or eliminate prickles in about 20 different species. These include famously thorny plants like roses and indigenous crops like Australia鈥檚 desert raisin.

It may be a long while before humanity is safe from the purple devil. In the meantime, the Lippman lab鈥檚 research is helping us better understand how evolution works in plants and all life on Earth.

Written by: Nick Wurm, Communications Specialist | [email protected] | 516-367-5940