Application of CRISPR/Cas9 technology in wild apple (Malus sieverii) for paired sites gene editing

BACKGROUND: Xinjiang wild apple is an important tree of the Tianshan Mountains, and in recent years, it has undergone destruction by many biotic and abiotic stress and human activities. It is necessary to use new technologies to research its genomic function and molecular improvement. The clustered regulatory interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein (Cas) system has been successfully applied to genetic improvement in many crops, but its editing capability varies depending on the different combinations of the synthetic guide RNA (sgRNA) and Cas9 protein expression devices. RESULTS: In this study, we used 2 systems of vectors with paired sgRNAs targeting to MsPDS. As expected, we successfully induced the albino phenotype of calli and buds in both systems. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that CRISPR/Cas9 is a powerful system for editing the wild apple genome and expands the range of plants available for gene editing. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13007-021-00769-8.