Genome editing during apomictic reproduction in self-incompatible Hieracium produces high knockout frequencies in T1 progeny

Hieracium subgenus Pilosella species undergo facultative apomixis, which is asexual seed formation. We assessed the efficacy of CRISPR/Cas9 editing in this apomict by targeting the endogenous phytoene desaturase (PDS) gene, which induces a visible albino phenotype when mutated. High-throughput screening of Cas9-mediated editing events was carried out using amplicon deep sequencing of two PDS gene fragments from T0 and T1 independent transformants. Results from T0 and T1 lines are shown here.