Creating watermelon that resists glyphosate using precise gene editing

Editing the watermelon EPSPS gene created a non-transgenic glyphosate-resistant line.

• The prime editing platform utilized visible markers for gene editing.
• Heterozygous mutants demonstrated tolerance to field-level doses of herbicide.
• These mutants did not exhibit growth penalties under herbicide treatment.
• The resulting lines are suitable for use as parental lines in crop breeding.

Simplified