Expanding the Potential of CRISPR-Cas9 Technology for Crops Improvement

Cereal crops like rice, maize, barley, and wheat are the major staple food crops, and their nutrition and processing quality requires a dedicated long-term breeding program. However, genome editing (GE) could be a potential approach for the targeted improvement of cultivated crop plants via specifically selected alternation in their genome. Various GE approaches have been previously used, which make use of zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), and clustered regularly interspaced short identical and inverted repeats CRISPR/Cas9 (CRISPR-associated protein 9). Genome modification methods have been implemented for the desired trait improvement in numerous crops as well in some gymnosperms and angiosperm. CRISPR/Cas9-based methods have provided a great capacity to genetic engineering due to their competency, simplicity, and the ability to adopt in comparison to other GE techniques. These methods have provided capacity to gain an exact and deeper understanding of GE. But in plant research, crop system specifically aims at genetic improvement by targeting desired biosynthesis pathways. This urges to develop new technologies for specific mutagenesis and accurate genome editing of the key genes involved in different biosynthetic pathways, and targeted control of their gene expression at transcriptional or post-transcriptional level.