A team of Chinese scientists has used targeted gene editing to develop rice that produces coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), a vital compound for human health.
Led by Prof. Chen Xiaoya from the CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences/Shanghai Chenshan Research Center and Prof. Gao Caixia from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the researchers used targeted gene editing to modify just five amino acids of the Coq1 rice enzyme, creating new rice varieties capable of synthesizing CoQ10.
The study is published in Cell.