CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing technology fast replaces the previous methods that require protein engineering such as Zinc Finger Nucleases (ZFNs) and TALE nucleases (TALENs). Conventional genome editing of plant cells using CRISPR/Cas9 technology largely depends on Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of the plant cells and subsequent regeneration of whole plants from the edited cells. During this process, unwanted foreign DNAs including the antibiotics gene and fragments of the T-DNA can be introduced into plant genome. Insertion of these unwanted DNA causes lots of regulatory restrictions when commercializing the LMO products. To step aside these issues, we designed DNA-free ribonucleoprotein-based method and regenerated whole plants from the successfully engineered cells. We will share our discovery on the successful implement of this technology in lettuce protoplasts.

• Soon-Il Kwon(Convergence Research Center for Functional Plant Products, Advanced Institutes of Convergence Technology)
• Je Wook Woo(Convergence Research Center for Functional Plant Products, Advanced Institutes of Convergence Technology)
• Jungeun Kim(Department of Chemistry, Seoul National University, Center for Genome Engineering, Institute for Basic Science)
• Jin-Soo Kim(Department of Chemistry, Seoul National University, Center for Genome Engineering, Institute for Basic Science)
• Sunghwa Choe(Convergence Research Center for Functional Plant Products, Advanced Institutes of Convergence Technology, School of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University)