Hiroshima University researchers have used genome editing to transform red perilla into a green look-alike and simultaneously restructured the plant's chemistry to boost levels of compounds prized for their potential health benefits. The findings point to a new strategy for developing high-value crops for the food and pharmaceutical industries. The study was published in Frontiers in Plant Science.
Perilla, a member of the mint family, is cultivated throughout Asia and is known by many names, including "shiso" in Japan, "kkaennip" in Korea and "tía tô" in Vietnam. The plant is broadly classified into red and green varieties based on leaf color, a trait that strongly influences its culinary uses, market value and consumer appeal. In Japan, red perilla is valued for imparting a distinctive color and flavor to pickled plums, whereas green perilla is commonly consumed fresh for its aroma and taste. While best known as a culinary herb, perilla also has a range of health-promoting properties.
"Perilla contains more than 400 bioactive compounds, including anthocyanins, luteolin, rosmarinic acid and perillaldehyde, which have been associated with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and other health-promoting effects," said Hidemasa Bono, professor at Hiroshima University's Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life and a corresponding author of the study.
The genetic mechanisms controlling the production and balance of these compounds, however, have remained largely unknown.
Seeking an answer, the researchers turned to CRISPR-Cas9, a genome-editing technology that allows scientists to precisely modify DNA. In red perilla, the team disabled a gene called flavanone 3-hydroxylase (F3H), which encodes an enzyme that acts as a key branching point in the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway.
The result was immediately visible. "Plants edited at the F3H gene lost their characteristic red pigmentation and developed green leaves that were virtually indistinguishable in appearance from conventional green perilla varieties," Bono said.
Chemical analyses revealed that the color change reflected a major metabolic shift. The edited plants produced far lower amounts of anthocyanins, the pigments responsible for red coloration, while accumulating substantially higher levels of flavones, a class of plant compounds associated with multiple health benefits. In particular, concentrations of luteolin, a flavone known for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, increased approximately sixfold compared with unedited plants.
The researchers also detected elevated levels of rosmarinic acid, another bioactive metabolite linked to potential health benefits, suggesting that editing F3H influences not only flavonoid production but also broader phenylpropanoid metabolism.
Importantly, the team generated stable edited lines that no longer contained foreign DNA from the genome-editing process. This demonstrates the feasibility of producing nontransgenic perilla varieties with tailored metabolic profiles.
"By modifying a single enzyme gene in red perilla, we have successfully changed the plant's metabolism to increase its health-promoting compounds," Bono said. "Genome editing makes it possible to develop high-performance perilla with enhanced value for food and pharmaceutical applications."
The team plans to use the newly developed lines to further investigate the complex biological functions of perilla and deepen understanding of how its diverse metabolites are regulated.
"We hope to translate these findings into the development of high-value functional foods enriched with beneficial compounds and to explore the use of perilla as a new source of naturally derived pharmaceutical materials," Bono said.
Publication details
Shuji Matsushita et al, CRISPR-Cas9 disruption of flavanone 3-hydroxylase produces a green phenotype and alters flavone metabolites in allotetraploid perilla, Frontiers in Plant Science (2026). DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2026.1877946
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Citation: Disrupting single enzyme gene in herb red perilla produces green plants with enriched health-promoting molecules (2026, July 16) retrieved 16 July 2026 from https://phys.org/news/2026-07-disrupting-enzyme-gene-herb-red.html
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