Rapid breeding of parthenocarpic tomato plants using CRISPR/Cas9

Most fruits form after pollination, making their production vulnerable to pollinator presence. Parthenocarpy is the development of fruit that occurs in the absence of pollination. Genes that enable parthenocarpy have been identified, including a tomato gene involved in auxin responses SlIAA9. Ueta et al. used CRISPR/Cas9 to efficiently engineer parthenocarpy into two commercial tomato varieties. One outcome of this research could be sustained fruit yields even when pollinator populations decline. Sci. Reports.  10.1038/s41598-017-00501-4