Researchers Develop New Tools for Precise Large DNA Insertions

GAO Caixia’s group from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology(IGDB)of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS)has developed a new genome editing technology that achieves efficient and precise targeted insertion of large DNA segments in plants.The new technology,called prime editing-mediated recombination of opportune targets(PrimeRoot),combines an optimized dual-ePPE editor protein previously published by the group with a highly efficient tyrosine site-specific recombinase,Cre.It can achieve one-step,precise targeted insertion of large DNA segments in rice and maize with an efficiency up to 6%and has been used to successfully insert DNA segments up to 11.1 kb.