A team of researchers from the University of Jember, Indonesia, successfully developed a single guide RNA for CRISPR-Cas9 system based on the xa13 resistance gene of rice. The research article is published in the Journal of Tropical Plant Pests and Diseases.

Xa13 is a recessive resistance gene against rice bacterial blight pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) found in several rice varieties. As this gene is activated, the production of sucrose for Xoo growth is also turned on. Thus, the researchers aimed to design and construct the gRNA-targeting xa13 in rice using bioinformatics tools.

They selected two candidates of gRNA-targeted xa13 based on the bioinformatics data. The gRNA1 will target exon 1 and the gRNA2 will target exon 2, with an efficiency of 52.51% and 44.63%, respectively.

The findings showed that the guanine-cytosine content of all gRNA candidates ranged from 55 to 70%, with no off target location in the whole genome of rice. A series of tests confirmed the successful construction of the design.

Design and construction of single guide RNA for CRISPR/Cas9 system based on the xa13 resistance gene in some varieties of rice (Oryza sativa) | Jurnal Hama dan Penyakit Tumbuhan Tropika (unila.ac.id)