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PubMed · 42149953

TALEs, TALENs, and TALE Base Editors: From Plant Pathology to Biotechnology.

Jan Grau·Jens Boch
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Abstract

TALEs (transcription activator-like effectors) are an excellent example of how studying pathogen-host interactions can lead to significant biotechnology inventions. TALEs are bacterial effectors that are translocated into plant cells via a bacterial type III secretion system. Once inside the host cell, they are imported into the nucleus to bind specific promoters and induce expression of target genes, thereby supporting the bacterial infection. TALEs are found throughout many, but not all, Xanthomonas pathovars, which can be severe pathogens of different crops. The key feature of TALEs is their modular DNA-binding domain, which allows a simple evolutionary adaptation to novel DNA sequences as well as simple cloning of designer TALEs with desired DNA-binding specificity. Accordingly, TALE nucleases started the genome-editing revolution, and TALE base editors are the latest tools to efficiently edit chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes. We review recent advances in Xanthomonas genomics, synthesize current knowledge about naturally occurring TALEs, and highlight current roles of TALEs in genome editing and synthetic biology.

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XanthomonasGene EditingBiotechnologyPlant DiseasesTranscription Activator-Like EffectorsPlant PathologyHost-Pathogen InteractionsPlantsCRISPRT3SSbase editinggenome editingplant pathogenvirulenceJournal ArticleReview

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BibTeXRIS

Jan Grau, Jens Boch. 2026-05-18. TALEs, TALENs, and TALE Base Editors: From Plant Pathology to Biotechnology.. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-phyto-011325-014601

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