Triticeae Genomics and Genetics, 2025, Vol.16, No.2, 72-78 http://cropscipublisher.com/index.php/tgg 72 Case Study Open Access CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Editing of TaGW2 to Enhance Grain Size in Wheat Xingzhu Feng Hainan Institute of Biotechnology, Haikou, 570206, Hainan, China Corresponding email: xingzhu.feng@hibio.org Triticeae Genomics and Genetics, 2025, Vol.16, No.2 doi: 10.5376/tgg.2025.16.0008 Received: 12 Feb., 2025 Accepted: 22 Mar., 2025 Published: 06 Apr., 2025 Copyright © 2025 Feng, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Feng X.Z., 2025, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated editing of TaGW2 to enhance grain size in wheat, Triticeae Genomics and Genetics, 16(2): 72-78 (doi: 10.5376/tgg.2025.16.0008) Abstract Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is a major food crop in the world, and its grain weight is one of the important traits that determine its yield. The TaGW2 gene is widely considered to be a key negative regulator of wheat grain size. With the development of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology, targeted modification of the TaGW2 gene has become an important molecular breeding strategy for improving wheat grain weight. In this study, the structural characteristics and expression patterns of the TaGW2 gene were systematically analyzed, an efficient CRISPR/Cas9 editing system was designed, mutant materials were constructed, and their grain phenotypes were deeply evaluated. The study showed that the TaGW2 knockout mutant showed significant improvements in grain length, grain width, and 1000-grain weight, and had no adverse effects on plant height and growth period. This study collected and summarized actual editing cases from multiple authoritative institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, CSIRO in Australia, and Nagoya University in Japan, verifying the wide applicability and breeding potential of TaGW2 editing in different genetic backgrounds. In this study, CRISPR/Cas9 technology was used to precisely edit the wheat TaGW2 gene in order to enhance the length, width, and 1000-grain weight of the grain, thereby improving the yield potential of wheat. Keywords Wheat; TaGW2 gene; CRISPR/Cas9 editing; Grain weight improvement; Molecular breeding 1 Introduction The yield of wheat is mainly related to grain weight, which is generally expressed as "thousand-grain weight" (TGW). The larger the grain weight, the higher the yield, so increasing grain weight has always been a key goal in breeding (Wang et al., 2018). TaGW2 is a gene that controls grain weight. It produces a protein called "RING finger E3 ubiquitin ligase". This gene is a "negative regulator", which means that it inhibits grain enlargement. If this gene is knocked out or expressed less, the grain will become larger and the yield will increase. However, if this gene is expressed too much, although it can enhance drought resistance, it may reduce yield under ideal planting conditions (Wang et al., 2018; Li et al., 2023). This gene also plays a role in crop response to adverse environments. It not only affects yield, but is also related to stress resistance. Now, CRISPR/Cas9 technology can be used to "edit" this gene very accurately. Researchers have successfully created plants with single, double, and triple mutations, all of which can make the grains larger, and this change can be inherited (Zhao et al., 2024). Recently, research has also improved CRISPR editing methods, such as the ability to modify multiple genes at a time and more efficient gene introduction methods. These new advances make the application of this technology in wheat breeding faster and more accurate. This study reviews the structure and expression of TaGW2, summarizes the latest progress in using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated TaGW2 gene editing technology to increase wheat grain size, and explores the challenges, opportunities, and future development directions of this technology in wheat breeding. This study emphasizes the potential of CRISPR/Cas9 technology as a transformative tool for sustainable genetic improvement of crops, hoping to better utilize the targeted editing technology of the TaGW2 gene to increase wheat yield.
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