Abstract

                                Adenine base editor (ABE) creates A to G transitions within its editing window.In the present study, an ABE was used to target a stretch of six amino acidresidues, VLFPNL in translation initiation factor four gamma (eIF4G) gene ofrice. Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of rice cultivar ASD16 resultedin T0 events with high mutation efficiency of 89.29 %. Substitution mutationsof A > G occurred within the editing window of four to eight bases at A7 >G7 (74.67 %) and A4 > G4 (2.46 %). Non-canonical substitutions of G > C/Awas also observed at G15 > C15 (9.29 %) and G8 > A8 (1.15 %). A total of 15missense base substitution events affecting the target residue was identified.Taken together, the present study showed that ABEs create unexpected basesubstitutions besides efficient canonical editing of A > G in the rice genome.

Key words : Rice; Adenine base editors; eIF4G