Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
4th PlantEd Conference, Porto, Portekiz, 18 - 21 Eylül 2023, ss.76
Petunia plants are renowned ornamental species widely cultivated as pot plants for their aesthetic
appeal indoors and outdoors. The preference for pot plants depends on their compact growth habit
and abundant flowering. While genome editing has gained significant popularity in plants for
addressing abiotic and biotic stress factors, relatively less emphasis has been placed on its application
in ornamental plant species. In this groundbreaking study, we aimed to optimize the procedure for
genome editing in petunia plants using the highly efficient Multiplexed CRISPR/Cas9 system.
Specifically, we targeted two genes associated with plant architecture traits: internode length, early
flowering, number of flowers, and plant height. We successfully induced substitution, insertion, and
deletions in the targeted genes through precise genome editing, resulting in significant phenotypic
alterations in petunia plants. Notably, the plants with the edited SHORT PEDICLE gene exhibited a
visibly early flowering time compared to the wild-type counterparts. Furthermore, mutants with
alterations in the SELF-PRUNING 5g gene demonstrated shorter internodes than wild-type ones,
creating a more compact and aesthetically appealing phenotype. This study represents the first
successful endeavor to produce compact petunia plants with increased flower abundance through
genome editing techniques. Our approach holds immense promise to improve economically significant
petunia plants and serve as a potential foundation for further investigations into similar ornamental
plant species.