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Virus-induced gene editing free from tissue culture

Nature Plants volume 11, pages 1241–1251 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Virus-induced gene editing (VIGE) has reached an inflection point. Although conceived as an alternative to traditional methods of producing gene-edited plants, VIGE has historically relied on the very technologies it was meant to supersede—specifically, tissue-culture-mediated transgenesis. Recent VIGE innovations, however, have finally proved its viability as an independent method for plant gene editing. Here we discuss the advances in plant genome engineering VIGE may unlock, what progress has been made towards achieving these advances and the challenges that continue to impede that progress.

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Fig. 1: Methods for VIGE in plants.
Fig. 2: Four strategies for overcoming the problems posed by viral exclusion from the meristem (challenge 1).
Fig. 3: The relative sizes of RNA-guided endonucleases and their viral vectors.
Fig. 4: Methods of introducing viral vectors into plants for VIGE ordered by degree of complexity.

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Acknowledgements

We thank K. Leffler for assistance with the figures. This work was supported by the DOE Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research Program, Award Number DE-SC0018420). Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the US Department of Energy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Abraham R. Steinberger

  2. Center for Precision Plant Genomics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Abraham R. Steinberger & Daniel F. Voytas

  3. Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Daniel F. Voytas

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  1. Abraham R. Steinberger
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  2. Daniel F. Voytas
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A.R.S. conceptualized, drafted and edited the manuscript. D.F.V. helped in conceptualization and provided editorial input.

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Correspondence to Daniel F. Voytas.

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Nature Plants thanks Yanpeng Wang, Savithramma Dinesh-Kumar and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Steinberger, A.R., Voytas, D.F. Virus-induced gene editing free from tissue culture. Nat. Plants 11, 1241–1251 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02025-6

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