Transgene free gene editing in plants via nanoparticles.

CRISPR/CAS9 gene editing, and several closely related technologies, have emerged in the last decade as an extremely powerful tool in the life sciences, allowing precise and targeted editing of plant and animal genomes. The results of standard gene editing are indistinguishable from the types of genetic changes that occur naturally and that could be generated over much longer time frames by conventional breeding approaches. This powerful technology has the potential to help deliver stress or disease tolerant crops, remove allergens, and increase the nutritional value of foods.
There are two key limitations to gene editing, both due to the plant cell wall which makes it challenging to deliver the required components to the right place at the right time. Firstly, most gene editing in plants requires foreign DNA encoding the editing machinery to be integrated into the plant genome making the plants "Genetically Modified" until this machinery can be removed. Secondly, a more precise form of gene editing - where a template sequence is provided to generate exact edits - is not feasible in plants.
Nanoparticles are a potential means to solve both of these limitations and transform plant gene editing. It has recently been shown that magnetic nanoparticles can efficiently deliver DNA into plant pollen through small naturally occurring holes or "apertures" in the pollen coat, while maintaining the pollen's viability. This PhD project will build on this understanding to develop transformative techniques for gene editing in plants applicable across a wide range of species.
The project will use cutting edge gene-editing techniques, molecular and cell biology and super-resolution fluorescence microscopy. Plant lines will be established that enable quick assessment of gene editing efficiencies and use these lines to optimise plant gene editing. Nanoparticles will be synthesise and characterise with the right characteristics for plant gene editing.