Towards targeted engineering of promoters via deletion of repressive cis‐regulatory elements.

The article discusses the use of CRISPR-mediated gene editing to generate transgene-free, gain-of-function alleles in plants by targeting repressive cis-regulatory elements (CRE) within native promoters. Wang et al. demonstrate the potential to achieve endogenous gene overexpression by deleting specific repressive motifs from rice and soybean promoters, resulting in increased protein content. The study emphasizes a systematic and rational approach to promoter engineering, highlighting the importance of targeting conserved repressive motifs across plant species for achieving desired phenotypes. The research provides insights into tissue-specific gene expression enhancement and offers a roadmap for implementing targeted promoter engineering strategies in plant science. [Extracted from the article]