Artificially improving traits of cultivated alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), one of the most important forage crops, is challenging due to the lack of a reference genome and an efficient genome editing protocol, which mainly result from its autotetraploidy and self-incompatibility. Here, we generate an allele-aware chromosome-level genome assembly for the cultivated alfalfa consisting of 32 allelic chromosomes by integrating high-fidelity single-molecule sequencing and Hi-C data. We further establish an efficient CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing protocol on the basis of this genome assembly and precisely introduce tetra-allelic mutations into null mutants that display obvious phenotype changes. The mutated alleles and phenotypes of null mutants can be stably inherited in generations in a transgene-free manner by cross pollination, which may help in bypassing the debate about transgenic plants. The presented genome and CRISPR/Cas9-based transgene-free genome editing protocol provide key foundations for accelerating research and molecular breeding of this important forage crop.

SummaryPlant protoplasts are useful for assessing the efficiency of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR‐associated protein 9 (Cas9) mutagenesis. We improved the process of protoplast isolation and transfection of several plant species. We also developed a method to isolate and regenerate single mutagenized Nicotianna tabacum protoplasts into mature plants. Following transfection of protoplasts with constructs encoding Cas9 and sgRNAs, target gene DNA could be amplified for further analysis to determine mutagenesis efficiency. We investigated N. tabacum protoplasts and derived regenerated plants for targeted mutagenesis of the phytoene desaturase (NtPDS) gene. Genotyping of albino regenerants indicated that all four NtPDS alleles were mutated in amphidiploid tobacco, and no Cas9 DNA could be detected in most regenerated plants.

Elite crop varieties usually fix alleles that occur at low frequencies within non-elite gene pools. Dissecting these alleles for desirable agronomic traits can be accomplished by comparing the genomes of elite varieties with those from non-elite populations. Here we deep-sequence six elite rice varieties and use two large control panels to identify elite variety tag single-nucleotide polymorphism alleles (ETASs). Guided by this preliminary analysis, we comprehensively characterize one protein-altering ETAS in the 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase gene of the IRAT104 upland rice variety. This allele displays a drastic frequency difference between upland and irrigated rice, and a selective sweep is observed around this allele. Functional analysis indicates that in upland rice, this allele is associated with significantly higher abscisic acid levels and denser lateral roots, suggesting its association with upland rice suitability. This report provides a potential strategy to mine rare, agronomically important alleles.