Skip to main content
ISMPMI Congress 2025 Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.

Poster

Session: Session 2 Presenting Authors at Posters (Evens)

P-204 - Enhancing Genome Editing by Optimizing Floral Stage-Specific Agrobacterium-Mediated Transformation and Suppressing Plant Immunity

Thursday, July 17, 2025
13:30 - 15:15  
Location: Confex Hall 3
Engineering plant-microbe traits

    Presenting Author(s)

  • EL

    Erh-Min Lai

    Professor
    Academia Sinica
    Taipei City, Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China)

    • Author(s)

  • ML

    Mao-Sen Liu

    Academia Sinica
    Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China)

  • TH

    Teng-Kuei Huang

    Academia Sinica
    Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China)

  • YW

    Yi-Chieh Wang

    Academia Sinica
    Taipei City, Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China)

  • SW

    Si-Chong Wang

    Academia Sinica
    Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China)

  • CW

    Chih-Hang Wu

    Associate Research Fellow
    Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academia Sinica
    Taipei City, Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China)

  • CG

    Chih-Horng Guo

    Academia Sinica
    Taipei City, Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China)


Agrobacterium-mediated transformation via floral inoculation (AMT-FI) is a widely used for germ cell transformation in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. While EF-Tu receptor (EFR)-mediated immunity is known to inhibit transient transformation in somatic cells, its role in germline transformation has remained unexplored. Here, we investigate the floral stage susceptible for AMT-FI and the impact of  EFR-mediated immunity in ovule development, stable transformation, and genome editing efficiencies. We identify flowers that opened at 5–9 days post-inoculation (DPI) as the optimal floral stages for AMT-FI, peaking at 6 DPI, which achieved the genome edited plants without prior selection. Notably, the efr mutants exhibit a significantly higher genome editing efficiency, yet no significant increase in stable transformation rates could be observed. Importantly, we engineered Agrobacterium GV3101 expressing a chimeric EF-Tu, which improves transient transformation and genome editing efficiencies. Additionally, Agrobacteriuminfection induces ovule abortion, with a higher rate in WT than in efr mutants, leading to increased viable seed production in immune-suppressed plants. These findings underscore the negative impact of plant immunity on gene editing and provide practical strategies, including the use of immune-compromised genotypes and stealth Agrobacterium strains, to overcome these barriers and improve plant transformation technologies.