Fine-TuningTAWAWA1-Mediated Panicle Architecture by Genome Editing of a Downstream Conserved Noncoding Sequence in Rice

Summary Genome editing is a promising tool to enhance plant breeding, particularly for the generation of practical quantitative traits. We focused on the rice yield-related gene TAWAWA1 ( TAW1 ) and produced various degrees of increased panicle branching phenotypes by modifying its downstream conserved noncoding sequence (CNS). Differential modification of two highly conserved regions containing putative repressive elements in this CNS caused transcriptional upregulation of TAW1 , resulting in diverse phenotypes.