Targeting Induced Local Lesions in Genome (TILLING): An Approach towards Genetic Mutations in Rice

Abstract

TILLING (Targeting Induced Local Lesions in Genome) is a reverse genetic approach that involves inducing mutations and then utilizing high-throughput methods to identify these mutations. Successful attempts have been made towards improvement of traits through identification of beneficial alleles by TILLING method. Even though TILLING was developed a decade ago as an alternative to insertional mutagenesis in Arabidopsis thaliana (McCallum et al., 2000), it is prominent and successful in rice also. Many attempts have been undergoing in rice for improving traits based on TILLING. TILLING populations have been developed in several crops including rice for functional genomic studies. Rice, being the primary staple food, plays a crucial role in meeting the dietary needs of the population. With the global population projected to reach 9.6 billion by 2050 (Leridon, 2020), there is an urgent need to increase rice production to meet the growing global food demand. Achieving this goal must occur despite increasing biotic and abiotic stresses driven by climate change, overwhelmed by the competition for limited resources like land and water. In order to fasten the improvement of the traits in rice, technique such as TILLING could be useful. Due to its benefits such as simple procedure, high sensitivity, and efficient results, TILLING represents a potent method for both identifying genes and assessing DNA variations.