Provided herein are methods for increasing plant cell transformation efficiency. These methods include exposing the plant cells to a liquid medium containing a surfactant. Following exposure to the surfactant-containing medium, the cells can become more amenable to transformation and may be genetically transformed using methods known in the art. Exposure of the cells to the surfactant-containing medium prior to transformation can increase plant transformation efficiency when compared to transformation efficiency of cells not exposed to the surfactant-containing medium.

Provided are compositions comprising polynucleotides and polypeptides for the improvement of agronomic traits in plants, in particular maize plants. Also provided are recombinant DNA constructs, plants, plant cells, seed, grain comprising the polynucleotides and/or polypeptides. Additionally, various methods of employing the polynucleotides and genetic modifications in plants, such as methods for increasing yield of a plant are also provided herein.

Methods and systems for delivering biological materials such as nucleic acids and/or proteins to the interior of a plant cell are provided. Such methods and systems include those where biological material is non-covalently complexed with a magnetic particle and accelerated multiple times toward a plant cell.

The disclosure relates to methods of producing genome edited plant cells, genome edited plant calli, as well as genome edited plants. The methods comprise first introducing into a plant cell the polypeptide element(s) of a genome-editing system and, subsequently, introducing the polynucleotide element(s) of the genome-editing system into a plant cell that is already expressing the polypeptide element(s).

A method to transforming a plant includes coating a microparticle having a diameter of 0.3 to 0.9 μm with at least one type of nucleic acid, bombarding a shoot apex of the plant with the coated microparticle using a gene gun, growing the shoot apex bombarded with the coated microparticle to obtain a plant body, and selecting a transformed plant body from the plant body. The shoot apex is selected from the group consisting of a shoot apex of an embryo of a fully mature seed, a shoot apex of a young bud of a tuber, and a shoot apex of a terminal bud or a lateral bud.

Compositions and methods useful for plant transformation without employing selection and without requiring tissue culture through a callus stage are provided. Transformed monocot plants can be obtained with the compositions and methods.

A method for editing a plant genome includes coating a microparticle with at least one type of nucleic acid and/or at least one type of protein, introducing a deletion, insertion, or substitution into a target site in the genome of a plant by bombarding a shoot apex of the plant with the coated microparticle using a gene gun, growing the shoot apex bombarded with the coated microparticle to obtain a plant body, and selecting a genome-edited plant body from the plant body. The shoot apex of the plant is selected from the group consisting of a shoot apex of an embryo of a fully mature seed, a shoot apex of a young bud of a tuber, and a shoot apex of a terminal bud or a lateral bud.

Methods and compositions for plastid transformation and regeneration or development of transplastomic plants are provided. Embryo explants may be excised from seeds, and their meristematic tissue may be transformed directly without initiation of any callus phase before and/or after transformation. The present methods may be performed with fewer culturing steps relative to conventional methods, thereby enabling more rapid and efficient production of targeted transplastomic events in plants.

A method for modifying a plant includes coating a microparticle with at least one type of nucleic acid and/or at least one type of a protein, bombarding a shoot apex of a plant with the coated microparticle, growing the shoot apex bombarded with the coated microparticle to obtain a plant body, and selecting a modified plant body from the plant body. The shoot apex is selected from the group consisting of a shoot apex of an embryo of a fully mature seed, a shoot apex of a young bud, a shoot apex of a terminal bud or a lateral bud, and a shoot apex of an immature embryo.

The present invention relates to methods and hybrids for the targeted modification of a nucleic acid-target region in a plant target structure using CRISPR/Cas systems. The invention specifically relates to methods and hybrids for directly obtaining a plant or plant material which comprises an editing of a nucleic acid introduced in a targeted manner into a meristematic cell. The hybrids can be introduced in a transient and/or stable manner. The invention also relates to novel plant-optimized introduction strategies. The invention further relates to a method for carrying out an in vitro screening assay in order to first check the suitable gRNA candidates in vitro with respect to their efficiency.