Food security and hidden hunger are two worldwide serious and complex challenges nowadays. As one of the newly emerged technologies, gene editing technology and its application to crop improvement offers the possibility to relieve the pressure of food security and nutrient needs. In this paper, we analyzed the research status of quality improvement based on gene editing using four major crops, including rice, soybean, maize, and wheat, through a bibliometric analysis. The research hotspots now focus on the regulatory network of related traits, quite different from the technical improvements to gene editing in the early stage, while the trends in deregulation in gene-edited crops have accelerated related research. Then, we mined quality-related genes that can be edited to develop functional crops, including 16 genes related to starch, 15 to lipids, 14 to proteins, and 15 to other functional components. These findings will provide useful reference information and gene resources for the improvement of functional crops and nutritional quality based on gene editing technology.
Keywords: bibliometric; food security; functional crops; gene editing; hidden hunger; nutritional quality.