Kazakh scientists have found a solution to improve crop immunity

Biotechnologists at the Eurasian National University are the first in Kazakhstan to use genomic editing technology to protect plants from viruses, reports World of NAN with reference to the Ministry of Science.

The innovative solution of the university scientists allowed to increase the immunity of crops, their resistance to disease and stress. Scientists use CRISPR/Cas13 system and increase its activity with the help of protein. The university scientists' innovative solution solves the problem of delivering exogenous nucleic acids into a living organism.

"CRISPR/Cas is a gene editing technology that is also applied to plants all over the world. We are the first in Kazakhstan to use the CRISPR/Cas13 system, which targets not DNA but RNA sequences on the tombusvirus family. All viruses that infect living organisms are basically 95% RNA genome. We don't use CRISPR/Cas 9 or 12, which target DNA, because viruses evolve rapidly and have learned to resist these systems," explained ENU postdoctoral researcher Nurgul Iksat.

Scientists plan to conduct research on other families of viruses, as well as to obtain plants with a long-term effect of resistance to viruses. The technique can be applied in the field of plant virology, biology, plant biotechnology. It can be used on all species of solanaceous plants - tomatoes, eggplants and others.

As the scientist explains, every organism has a defense mechanism and when foreign nucleic acids are introduced, cellular immunity always tries to suppress their spread. This problem is solved by using the P19 protein, and the result is not only an increase in the efficiency of the CRISPR system, but also the possibility of producing seeds that are resistant to the virus.

"We will be able to develop seeds with resistance to viral diseases. Also based on this technique in the field, it is possible to conduct a test to determine the plant disease in half an hour. When different seeds are brought to our country, they are tested using expensive methods such as NGS. Rapid tests will help us to check it faster and decide whether to bring the seed into the country or not. If we get new seeds with resistance to viral diseases in our country, it will be possible to reduce external supplies of seed," says Nurgul Iksat.

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