Mapping cis-regulatory mutations at scale in sorghum enables modulation of gene expression
Evan D. Groover·David F. Savage·José M. Rivera·Peggy G. Lemaux·Brian J. Staskawicz·Krishna K. Niyogi·Y. Song·Dan Ding·Stephen H. Chen·Malak Moubarak·Flora Zhiqi Wang·Shahar Schwartz·Viktoriya Georgieva·Gonzalo Benegas
Precise modulation of gene expression through cis-regulatory editing holds promise for nontransgenic crop improvement. However, the sequence-to-function relationships that govern plant promoter activity remain poorly understood. Here we develop a massively parallel reporter assay in Sorghum bicolor to systematically measure the effects of >30,000 mutations spanning deletions, substitutions and motif insertions accessible through CRISPR editing across entire native promoters and 5' untranslated r