OpenCRISPR-1 rice editing tool

ICAR-Central Rice Research Institute researchers said on May 22 they had developed Plant OpenCRISPR-1, or POC1, a rice genome-editing platform built on the AI-designed nuclease OpenCRISPR-1. The group said the system supports gene knockout, base editing and prime editing in rice, extending a tool first reported in human cells into a plant model. A New Phytologist paper describing the work says the platform was developed and validated in rice and that the authors “refer to this platform as plant-OpenCRISPR-1 (POC1).” ### So what was actually released here? The New Phytologist paper describes a “suite of OC1-based genome-editing tools for plants” rather than a standalone commercial product. The study says those tools support “highly efficient gene knockout, base editing, and prime editing,” using rice as the model system. ICAR said its Cuttack-based team developed “versatile POC1-based tools for gene knockout, precise base editing, and prime editing in plants.” The institute said the work had been accepted by New Phytologist and was supported by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. (icar.org.in) ### What is OpenCRISPR-1, and where did it come from? Profluent Bio’s public GitHub repository says OpenCRISPR-1 was released on April 22, 2024 as an “AI-designed, RNA-programmable gene editor with NGG PAM preference.” The repository says the protein can be used as a drop-in replacement for some Cas9-like workflows and can be adapted in nickase or deactivated formats for base, prime or epigenome editing. (nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com) The New Phytologist paper says OpenCRISPR-1 is an AI-generated RNA-guided nuclease that differs from SpCas9 by 403 amino-acid substitutions and had previously been shown to support efficient genome editing in human cells. (icar.org.in) The plant paper says the authors then tested whether the system could be adapted to plant genome engineering. ### What did the rice team show in practice? The paper says the researchers codon-optimized the original OpenCRISPR-1 sequence for rice, inserted it into the pRGEB32 backbone and compared POC1 plasmids with SpCas9-based counterparts in rice protoplasts. (github.com) The study says protoplast transfection efficiencies exceeded 80% and that editing outcomes were measured 72 hours after transfection using deep amplicon sequencing. (nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com) ICAR said the platform achieved editing efficiencies “comparable to the widely used SpCas9 system across several rice genes” and also generated gene disruptions in transformed rice plants. The institute said the team additionally demonstrated POC1-based base-editing and prime-editing activity in rice. ### Does this confirm the social-media claim about public lab materials? The public record supports the core scientific claim, but not every distribution detail in the social post. (nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com) The paper and ICAR statement confirm a rice editing toolkit built around OpenCRISPR-1 and describe knockout, base-editing and prime-editing functions in rice. Profluent’s GitHub repository confirms that OpenCRISPR-1 itself is publicly available and says the project contains releases for “free and open gene editing systems.” But the sources I could verify do not independently show a dedicated public GitHub package containing all rice-specific design templates, vector backbones and primer sets described in the social thread. (icar.org.in) ### Why are rice researchers paying attention to this? (icar.org.in) Rice is the model system used in the paper, and the study positions POC1 as a plant-adapted editing platform that can do more than simple gene disruption. The paper says the work establishes compatibility with advanced editing architectures including adenine and cytosine base editors and prime editors in plant cells. ICAR said those capabilities could be used for targeted crop-improvement work involving grain quality, stress tolerance, nutritional content and pathogen resistance. (github.com) That description came from the institute’s statement, not from a field trial or product launch. ### What comes next? The next concrete milestone is the formal publication of the accepted New Phytologist paper. In parallel, the underlying OpenCRISPR-1 sequence and release materials remain available through Profluent Bio’s GitHub repository, which is the clearest public access point verified so far. (nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com) (icar.org.in)