Knocking out OsPht1;9-1;10 genes decreases arsenic accumulation in rice (Oryza sativa) grains

作者：Huayuan Feng, Chentong Chen, Mengyang Xu, Dan Sun, Xuexia Su, Yetao Tang, Nan Guo, Junhao Qin, Chenjing Liu, Guohua Xu, Q. Lena, Yue Cao, Rongliang Qiu · 发表于：Communications Biology · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.1038/s42003-026-09741-5 · 被引用次数：3 · 研究领域：Arsenic contamination and mitigation、Plant Stress Responses and Tolerance、Plant Gene Expression Analysis

Globally, 94-220 million people in regions with arsenic (As)-contaminated soil or groundwater face significant health risks. Rice, the primary staple food in these areas, is the main source of As exposure for a large portion of this population. Developing low-As rice cultivars provides a sustainable strategy to reduce dietary As exposure. However, As uptake in rice shares pathways with nutrient uptake, such as phosphate (P) transporters. The lack of As-specific transporters makes it challenging to reduce As accumulation in plants by regulating As uptake genes, as such approaches risk disrupting P uptake and plant growth. Here, we functionally characterized two phosphate transporter genes, OsPht1;9/OsPht1;10, which play a key role in arsenate (AsV) uptake and translocation in rice but minimally contribute to P utilization. Under hydroponic conditions, the double mutants of OsPht1;9/1;10 exhibited a 46.2-65.7% reduction in shoot As accumulation, with the As concentrations in xylem sap being 16.5-34.8% lower than the wild type controls. In multi-year field trials at two locations, simultaneous knockout of OsPht1;9/1;10 significantly decreased grain As concentration by 19.2-47.3%, without compromising yield. This study identifies novel gene-editing targets for low-As rice development and provides a breakthrough in mitigating As contamination exposure while enhancing food safety.