Establishing Tomato and Soybean Transformation for Precision Enhancement of Nutrition via Prime Editing Sadia Mahjabin Anni (Graduate Student) & Dr. Tianhu Sun (Assistant professor) Email : annism@etsu.edu & sunt02@etsu.edu Department of Biological Science, East Tennessee State University (ETSU), Johnson City, USA
Abstract
Tomato and soybeans are two economically important crops. Many efforts have been devoted to metabolic engineering methods to enhance the nutritional value in those two crops but also raised concerns about genetically modified organisms (GMO). With the rapid development of genome editing methods, this issue could be potentially solved, especially by recent emerging precise Prime Editing, which has been shown effective in monocot plants. However, in dicot plants, such as tomato and soybean, the transformation and prime editing efficiency is still a bottleneck. Previous studies in our lab have revealed potential targets to enhance provitamin A biosynthesis by engineering phytoene synthase (PSY), which provide novel targets for prime editing in crops such as soybean and tomato. Our research goal is to establish efficient methods to perform prime editing in tomato and soybean. We have optimized and evaluated Agrobacterium-mediated transformation in tomato and soybean using the RUBY reporter system. RUBY enabled easy identification of transgenic events through red betalain production, improving gene expression monitoring and transformation efficiency in both crops. Prime editing is a precise “search-and-replace” genome editing method that avoids donor DNA templates and double-strand breaks. It uses a pegRNA and a Cas9 nickase–reverse transcriptase fusion to enable targeted, heritable modifications. In this study, an improved system, PE7, was developed by fusing the La protein N-terminal domain to existing prime editors. Delivered via a geminiviral replicon vector, PE7 significantly enhanced editing efficiency in tomato and soybean. This project will establish a solid foundation for metabolic engineering with precise genome editing in these two top economic crops.
Start Time
15-4-2026 9:00 AM
End Time
15-4-2026 12:00 PM
Room Number
Culp Ballroom 316
Poster Number
2
Presentation Type
Poster
Presentation Subtype
Posters - Competitive
Presentation Category
Science, Technology, and Engineering
Student Type
Graduate and Professional Degree Students, Residents, Fellows
Faculty Mentor
Tianhu Sun
Establishing Tomato and Soybean Transformation for Precision Enhancement of Nutrition via Prime Editing Sadia Mahjabin Anni (Graduate Student) & Dr. Tianhu Sun (Assistant professor) Email : annism@etsu.edu & sunt02@etsu.edu Department of Biological Science, East Tennessee State University (ETSU), Johnson City, USA
Culp Ballroom 316
Tomato and soybeans are two economically important crops. Many efforts have been devoted to metabolic engineering methods to enhance the nutritional value in those two crops but also raised concerns about genetically modified organisms (GMO). With the rapid development of genome editing methods, this issue could be potentially solved, especially by recent emerging precise Prime Editing, which has been shown effective in monocot plants. However, in dicot plants, such as tomato and soybean, the transformation and prime editing efficiency is still a bottleneck. Previous studies in our lab have revealed potential targets to enhance provitamin A biosynthesis by engineering phytoene synthase (PSY), which provide novel targets for prime editing in crops such as soybean and tomato. Our research goal is to establish efficient methods to perform prime editing in tomato and soybean. We have optimized and evaluated Agrobacterium-mediated transformation in tomato and soybean using the RUBY reporter system. RUBY enabled easy identification of transgenic events through red betalain production, improving gene expression monitoring and transformation efficiency in both crops. Prime editing is a precise “search-and-replace” genome editing method that avoids donor DNA templates and double-strand breaks. It uses a pegRNA and a Cas9 nickase–reverse transcriptase fusion to enable targeted, heritable modifications. In this study, an improved system, PE7, was developed by fusing the La protein N-terminal domain to existing prime editors. Delivered via a geminiviral replicon vector, PE7 significantly enhanced editing efficiency in tomato and soybean. This project will establish a solid foundation for metabolic engineering with precise genome editing in these two top economic crops.
