No obvious unintended effects was found in gene editing rice through transcriptional and proteomic analysis

ABSTRACT

Unintended effects of gene edit crops may pose safety issues. Omics is a useful tool for researchers to evaluate these unexpected effects. Transcriptome and proteomics analyses were performed for two gene editors, CRISPR-Cas9 and adenine base editor (ABE) gene edit rice, as well as corresponding wild-type plants (Nipponbare). Transcriptome revealed 520 and 566 rice differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the Cas9/Nip and ABE/Nip comparisons, respectively. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis showed that most DEGs participated in metabolism of terpenoids and polyketones, plant–pathogen interactions, and plant signal transduction. It mainly belongs to environmental adaptation. Proteomics revealed 298 and 54 rice differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in the Cas9/Nip and ABE/Nip comparisons, respectively. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that most DEPs participated in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolite and metabolic pathways.

According to integrated transcriptomes and proteomics analysis, the results showed that no newly generated genes were identified as new transcripts of these differentially expressed genes, and gene edit tools had little effect on rice transcription levels and no new proteins were generated in the gene-edited rice.

Keywords:

• Gene edit
• proteome
• transcriptome
• unintended effects

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Major Project of Agricultural Biological Breeding (2022ZD0402003).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/21645698.2023.2229927

Author Contribution

Wang Zhi-Xing and Wang Xu-Jing designed the experiments. Liu Xiao-Jing and Xing Bao performed the experiments and wrote the manuscript. Wang Meng-Yu and Li Xiao-Man assisted with data analysis. All authors read, revised, and approved the final manuscript.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Major Project of Agricultural Biological Breeding [2022ZD0402003].