Efficient induction of parthenogenesis in crop plants

Abstract

Methods for improving parthenogenesis efficiency by DWT1 and BABY BOOM transcription factors in plants are provided. A rice embryo trigger transcription factor BABY BOOM1 can initiate embryogenesis when expressed in the unfertilized egg cell through a process called parthenogenesis (Khanday et al., 2019. Nature 565: 91-95). The parthenogenesis efficiency by BABY BBOM1 itself is 10-29%. This invention describes methods of high frequency of parthenogenesis by simultaneous expression of BABY BOOM and DWT1 transcription factors. When BABY BOOM1 and DWT1 are expressed together through egg cell-specific promoters, parthenogenesis efficiencies of up to 90% are achieved. These high parthenogenesis efficiencies are a prerequisite for field applications of synthetic apomixis in crop plants.

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