Optimized dicot prime editing enables heritable desired edits in tomato and <i>Arabidopsis</i>

Abstract

Prime editing (PE) enables almost all types of precise genome editing in animals and plants. It has been successfully adapted to edit several plants with variable efficiency and versatility. However, this technique is inefficient for dicots for unknown reasons. Here, using new combinations of PE components, including an RNA chaperone and altered engineered prime editing guide RNAs driven by a PolII-PolIII composite promoter and a viral replicon system, we obtained up to 9.7% of the desired PE efficiency at the callus stage as assessed by targeted deep sequencing. Subsequently, we identified that up to 38.2% of transformants contained desired PE alleles in tomatoes and Arabidopsis, marking successful heritable PE transmission. Our PE tools also showed high accuracy, specificity and multiplexing capability, which unlocked the potential for practical PE applications in dicots, paving the way for transformative advancements in plant sciences.