DOI: 10.1038/nbt.3833
We applied a fusion of CRISPR-Cas9 and activation-induced cytidine deaminase (Target-AID) for point mutagenesis at genomic regions specified by single guide RNAs (sgRNAs) in two crop plants. In rice, we induced multiple herbicide-resistance point mutations by multiplexed editing using herbicide selection, while in tomato we generated marker-free plants with homozygous heritable DNA substitutions, demonstrating the feasibility of base editing for crop improvement.