Fig. 2

Targeted mutagenesis of OsLHT1 by CRISPR/Cas9 led to rice growth inhibition. a Gene structure of OsLHT1 and the two targeted sites. Black boxes indicate exons. Red letters indicate the PAM of the recognition sequence. b Sequencing chromatography of wild type, mutants oslht1–1 and oslht1–2. Red arrows indicate mutation sites. c Phenotype of 5-day-old WT, oslht1–1 and oslht1–2 grown on 0.5 mM CaCl₂ solution. Bar =1 cm. d Time-dependent root elongation. Germinated seedlings were exposed to a 0.5 mM CaCl₂ solution and the root length was measured at different days. Error bars represent ± SD (n = 10). e-f Gross morphological phenotypes of WT, oslht1–1and oslht1–2 mutants grown in the field. Bar = 30 cm (e), 20 cm (f). g Symptoms of early senescence were present in oslht1 plants at reproductive growth stage. Bar = 20 cm. h-j Comparison of plant height (h), stem length (i) and tiller number (j) of the wild type (WT) and oslht1 plants at harvest. Values (h to j) are the mean ± SD (n = 15). Asterisks indicate significant differences from the wild type (*P < 0.05; **P < 0.01 by Student’s t-test)