Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)–CRISPR-associated protein (Cas) technology has been applied in plant breeding mainly on genes for improving single or multiple traits^1,2,3,4. Here we show that this technology can also be used to restructure plant chromosomes. Using the Cas9 nuclease from Staphylococcus aureus⁵, we were able to induce reciprocal translocations in the Mbp range between heterologous chromosomes in Arabidopsis thaliana. Of note, translocation frequency was about five times more efficient in the absence of the classical non-homologous end-joining pathway. Using egg-cell-specific expression of the Cas9 nuclease and consecutive bulk screening, we were able to isolate heritable events and establish lines homozygous for the translocation, reaching frequencies up to 2.5% for individual lines. Using molecular and cytological analysis, we confirmed that the chromosome-arm exchanges we obtained between chromosomes 1 and 2 and between chromosomes 1 and 5 of Arabidopsis were conservative and reciprocal. The induction of chromosomal translocations enables mimicking of genome evolution or modification of chromosomes in a directed manner, fixing or breaking genetic linkages between traits on different chromosomes. Controlled restructuring of plant genomes has the potential to transform plant breeding.

簇状规则间隔的短回文重复序列（CRISPR）–CRISPR相关蛋白（Cas）技术已应用于植物育种，主要用于改善单个或多个性状^1,2,3,4的基因上。在这里，我们证明了该技术还可以用于重组植物染色体。使用来自金黄色葡萄球菌⁵的Cas9核酸酶，我们能够诱导拟南芥异源染色体之间Mbp范围内的相互易位。值得注意的是，在没有经典的非同源末端连接途径的情况下，转运频率的效率提高了约五倍。使用Cas9核酸酶的卵细胞特异性表达和连续批量筛选，我们能够分离出遗传事件并建立了纯合的易位品系，单个品系的频率高达2.5％。使用分子和细胞学分析，我们证实了拟南芥的染色体1和2之间以及染色体1和5之间获得了染色体臂交换。保守而互惠。染色体易位的诱导能够模仿基因组进化或染色体的修饰，从而固定或破坏不同染色体上性状之间的遗传联系。植物基因组的受控重组具有转化植物育种的潜力。