Dirigent gene editing of gossypol enantiomers for toxicity-depleted cotton seeds.

Jia-Ling Lin, Xin Fang, Jian-Xu Li, Zhi-Wen Chen, Wen-Kai Wu, Xiao-Xiang Guo, Ning-Jing Liu, Jia-Fa Huang, Fang-Yan Chen, Ling-Jian Wang, Baofu Xu, Cathie Martin, Xiao-Ya Chen, Jin-Quan Huang

Nature plants 2023 Apr

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Axial chirality of biaryls can generate varied bioactivities. Gossypol is a binaphthyl compound made by cotton plants. Of its two axially chiral isomers, (-)-gossypol is the bioactive form in mammals and has antispermatogenic activity, and its accumulation in cotton seeds poses health concerns. Here we identified two extracellular dirigent proteins (DIRs) from Gossypium hirsutum, GhDIR5 and GhDIR6, which impart the hemigossypol oxidative coupling into (-)- and (+)-gossypol, respectively. To reduce cotton seed toxicity, we disrupted GhDIR5 by genome editing, which eliminated (-)-gossypol but had no effects on other phytoalexins, including (+)-gossypol, that provide pest resistance. Reciprocal mutagenesis identified three residues responsible for enantioselectivity. The (-)-gossypol-forming DIRs emerged later than their enantiocomplementary counterparts, from tandem gene duplications that occurred shortly after the cotton genus diverged. Our study offers insight into how plants control enantiomeric ratios and how to selectively modify the chemical spectra of cotton plants and thereby improve crop quality. © 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

Citation

Jia-Ling Lin, Xin Fang, Jian-Xu Li, Zhi-Wen Chen, Wen-Kai Wu, Xiao-Xiang Guo, Ning-Jing Liu, Jia-Fa Huang, Fang-Yan Chen, Ling-Jian Wang, Baofu Xu, Cathie Martin, Xiao-Ya Chen, Jin-Quan Huang. Dirigent gene editing of gossypol enantiomers for toxicity-depleted cotton seeds. Nature plants. 2023 Apr;9(4):605-615