Polyphenol oxidases (PPOs) catalyse the oxidization of polyphenols, which in turn causes the browning of the eggplant berry flesh after cutting. This has a negative impact on fruit quality for both industrial transformation and fresh consumption.

The manuscript focuses on the establishment of a successful protocol for gene editing in eggplant. Our system, based on the use of one guide RNA directed simultaneously at three members of the polyphenol oxidase (PPO) gene family, demonstrated to be specific for the target genes, without detectable off-target effects on other members of the same gene family. The induced mutations were stably inherited in the T1 and T2 progeny and were associated with reduced PPO activity and browning of the berry flesh after cutting.

Our results provide the first example of the use of the CRISPR/Cas9 system in eggplant for biotechnological applications and open the way to the development of eggplant genotypes with low flesh browning which maintain a high polyphenol content in the berries.