A single-cell screening platform accelerates functional genetics in plants.

Tara N Lowensohn, Will B Cody, Chun Tsai, Alexander E Vlahos, Connor C Call, Xiaojing J Gao, Elizabeth S Sattely

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Article in Nature biotechnology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Tara N Lowensohn *Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3195-1135

Will B Cody *Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0008-2565-1842

Chun TsaiHoward Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1549-2522

Alexander E VlahosDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2154-8791

Connor C CallDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2394-7523

Xiaojing J GaoDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3094-1456

Elizabeth S SattelyDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA. sattely@stanford.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7352-859X

Funding

National Science Foundation (NSF) DGE-2146755United States Department of Agriculture | National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) 2022-67012-36700

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Elucidating gene function in highly redundant genetic programs such as signaling pathways is challenging in model and nonmodel plants with current whole-plant genetic screening tools. Many of these challenges could be overcome if screens were instead carried out using individual cells harboring genetic perturbations. Here we report a single-cell screening platform, PIVOT (protoplast isolation after virus overexpression in planta), to accelerate identification and functional characterization of plant genes. We use Nicotiana benthamiana as a heterologous host to test gene libraries arrayed in a single leaf. PIVOT harnesses viral superinfection exclusion to ensure single multiplicity of infection per cell during pooled library delivery. Additionally, we engineer a cell-surface protein as a phenotypic marker for isolating cells of interest from a heterogeneous population. Using this system, we recover regulators of cytokinin signaling from an Arabidopsis open reading frame library. We anticipate PIVOT will be broadly applicable for high-throughput, single-cell functional genetic screening across the plant kingdom.

Identifiers

PMID42086881

DOI10.1006/meth.2001.1262

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.