An inducible genome editing system for plants

Conditional manipulation of gene expression is a key approach to investigating the primary function of a gene in a biological process. While conditional and cell-type specific overexpression systems exist for plants, there are currently no systems available to disable a gene completely and conditionally. Here, we present a novel tool with which target genes can be efficiently conditionally knocked out at any developmental stage. The target gene is manipulated using the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology, and conditionality is achieved with the well-established estrogen-inducible XVE system. Target genes can also be knocked-out in a cell-type specific manner. Our tool is easy to construct and will be particularly useful for studying genes which have null-alleles that are non-viable or show strong developmental defects.