![]() ![]() Unlike tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L.) and potato ( Solanum tuberosum L.), which are also native to the Andes but spread throughout the world during the Spanish conquest, quinoa remained a neglected crop for almost 500 years, until the latter half of the twentieth century ( Gomez-Pando, 2015). Although quinoa was a staple food for the indigenous people of the Andes in the Pre-Columbian era ( González et al., 2015), the Spanish conquistadors banned quinoa production and consumption in the sixteenth century since it was revered as a sacred “mother grain” used in indigenous rituals ( González et al., 2015). Quinoa was first domesticated at least 7,500 years ago ( Dillehay et al., 2007). Furthermore, quinoa can tolerate a wide spectrum of abiotic stresses such as drought, high salinity, frost, and low temperatures, making it a highly sustainable crop ( Jacobsen et al., 2005 Hariadi et al., 2011 Yasui et al., 2016 Mizuno et al., 2020). The seeds and leaves of quinoa contain a wide variety of minerals, vitamins, fats, dietary fiber, natural antioxidants, and high-quality proteins composed of high levels of essential amino acids ( Vega-Gálvez et al., 2010 Nowak et al., 2016 Pathan et al., 2019 Rodríguez et al., 2020). Among these crops is quinoa ( Chenopodium quinoa Willd.), an annual protein-rich pseudocereal with excellent nutritional properties and an ability to tolerate the stressful environments typical of the Andean region of South America. In many parts of the world, underutilized, orphan, and neglected crops are cultivated in marginal lands ( Massawe et al., 2016). Diversifying staple crops is thus another requirement for achieving a food supply that is sustainable, resilient, and suited to local environments ( Massawe et al., 2016). Of the tens of thousands of edible plants currently in existence, hundreds of species are cultivated around the world, but fewer than a dozen account for the majority of calories consumed ( Eshed and Lippman, 2019). ![]() This shift will need to be accompanied by an increase in the production of protein-rich crops ( Eshed and Lippman, 2019). ![]() Achieving global sustainable food production will require that people shift from a livestock-based diet to a plant-based diet ( Shepon et al., 2018). To withstand the effects of climate change and the population pressures on the global food system, the food supply will need to double by 2050 ( Wheeler and Braun, 2013). ![]() Rapid and large-scale changes in environmental and social conditions require rapid and fundamental changes in crop productivity and diversity ( Eshed and Lippman, 2019). Thus, our findings enable functional genomics in quinoa, ushering in a new era of quinoa research. Moreover, we show that ALSV can be transmitted to the progeny of quinoa plants. Our data also indicate that silencing a quinoa 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine 4,5-dioxygenase gene ( CqDODA1) or a cytochrome P450 enzyme gene ( CqCYP76AD1) inhibits betalain production and that knockdown of a reduced-height gene homolog ( CqRHT1) causes an overgrowth phenotype in quinoa. In addition, we show that ALSV can be used as a VOX vector in roots. We show that apple latent spherical virus (ALSV) can induce gene silencing of quinoa phytoene desaturase ( CqPDS1) in a broad range of quinoa inbred lines derived from the northern and southern highland and lowland sub-populations. Here, we demonstrate that two virus-mediated transient expression techniques, virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) and virus-mediated overexpression (VOX), can be used in quinoa. Even though challenges of analyzing the complex and heterogeneous allotetraploid genome of quinoa have recently been overcome, with the whole genome-sequencing of quinoa and the creation of genotyped inbred lines, the lack of technology to analyze gene function in planta is a major limiting factor in quinoa research. Quinoa ( Chenopodium quinoa), native to the Andean region of South America, has been recognized as a potentially important crop in terms of global food and nutrition security since it can thrive in harsh environments and has an excellent nutritional profile.
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