CRISPR/Cas genome editing: A frontier for transforming precision cassava breeding

Improved agricultural production of essential crops through advanced breeding is important for increasing access to nutritious food for the world's rapidly growing population, which is expected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050. Recent advancements in the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated protein9 (CRISPR/Cas9) genome editing process, which uses single-guide RNA for genome editing, have made it easy, stable and efficient tool for targeted gene mutations, knockout and knock-in/replacement to boost crop yield. The CRISPR/Cas method is constantly being improved, and its applications have greatly expanded. It can be used to modify the genome sequence of any organism, including plants like cassava, to achieve the desired trait. As a result, CRISPR/Cas is regarded as a game-changing technology in plant biology. Here, we discuss the principles of operation, implementations and future prospects of CRISPR/Cas9 for efficient processing of individual genes in cassava cultures. Recent work on cassava crop with regards to the use of CRISPR/Cas9 for the plant improvement was also addressed.   Key words:  Manihot esculenta, CRISPR/Cas9, genome editing, gRNA, protospacer adjacent motif (PAM).