Abstract

                                Two single nucleotide polymorphic mutations and deletion affectingY1059V1060V1061 amino acid residues in a host translation initiation factorfour gamma (eIF4G) gene in rice are reported to confer resistance to ricetungrospherical virus in resistant genotypes. A CRISPR-based adenine baseediting vector was used to target these residues in a susceptible indicacultivar, ASD16.Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of ASD16 generated16 missense mutants and two deletion mutants. Substitution mutationsoccurred at A5> G5 and A4> G4, where 5.5 % and 3.37 % of adenosines gotconverted to guanosines, respectively. The mutantsgenerated had missensemutations affecting the YVV residues and the residues immediately adjacentto YVV.Thus,these novel mutationsare promising candidates in impartingresistance against rice tungro disease.

Key words : Rice; Adenine base editors; eIF4G