Perspectives on the Application of Genome-Editing Technologies in Crop Breeding

Kai Hua; Jinshan Zhang; Jose Ramon Botella; Changle Ma; Fanjiang Kong; Baohui Liu; Jian-Kang Zhu

doi:10.1016/j.molp.2019.06.009

Perspectives on the Application of Genome-Editing Technologies in Crop Breeding

Mol Plant. 2019 Aug 5;12(8):1047-1059. doi: 10.1016/j.molp.2019.06.009. Epub 2019 Jun 28.

Authors

Kai Hua¹, Jinshan Zhang¹, Jose Ramon Botella², Changle Ma³, Fanjiang Kong⁴, Baohui Liu⁴, Jian-Kang Zhu⁵

Affiliations

¹ Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology, CAS Center of Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China.
² School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
³ Shandong Provincial Key Lab of Plant Stress, School of Life Sciences, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China.
⁴ School of Life Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China.
⁵ Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology, CAS Center of Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China; Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA. Electronic address: jkzhu@sibs.ac.cn.

PMID: 31260812
DOI: 10.1016/j.molp.2019.06.009

Abstract

Most conventional and modern crop-improvement methods exploit natural or artificially induced genetic variations and require laborious characterization of the progenies of multiple generations derived from time-consuming genetic crosses. Genome-editing systems, in contrast, provide the means to rapidly modify genomes in a precise and predictable way, making it possible to introduce improvements directly into elite varieties. Here, we describe the range of applications available to agricultural researchers using existing genome-editing tools. In addition to providing examples of genome-editing applications in crop breeding, we discuss the technical and social challenges faced by breeders using genome-editing tools for crop improvement.

Keywords: base editing; crop breeding; genome editing; mutations; plants.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

CRISPR-Cas Systems / genetics*
Crops, Agricultural / genetics*
Gene Editing / methods*
Genome, Plant / genetics
Genome, Plant / physiology
Plant Breeding / methods*
Plants, Genetically Modified / genetics
Plants, Genetically Modified / metabolism*
Plants, Genetically Modified / physiology*