CRISPR/Cas9 Gene Editing: An Unexplored Frontier for Forest Pathology

Erika N Dort; Philippe Tanguay; Richard C Hamelin

doi:10.3389/fpls.2020.01126

CRISPR/Cas9 Gene Editing: An Unexplored Frontier for Forest Pathology

Front Plant Sci. 2020 Jul 22:11:1126. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2020.01126. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Erika N Dort¹, Philippe Tanguay², Richard C Hamelin^{1

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
² Laurentian Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, Québec, QC, Canada.
³ Institut de Biologie Intégrative et des Systèmes (IBIS), Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada.
⁴ Département des Sciences du bois et de la Forêt, Faculté de Foresterie et Géographie, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada.

Abstract

CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology has taken the scientific community by storm since its development in 2012. First discovered in 1987, CRISPR/Cas systems act as an adaptive immune response in archaea and bacteria that defends against invading bacteriophages and plasmids. CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology modifies this immune response to function in eukaryotic cells as a highly specific, RNA-guided complex that can edit almost any genetic target. This technology has applications in all biological fields, including plant pathology. However, examples of its use in forest pathology are essentially nonexistent. The aim of this review is to give researchers a deeper understanding of the native CRISPR/Cas systems and how they were adapted into the CRISPR/Cas9 technology used today in plant pathology-this information is crucial for researchers aiming to use this technology in the pathosystems they study. We review the current applications of CRISPR/Cas9 in plant pathology and propose future directions for research in forest pathosystems where this technology is currently underutilized.

Keywords: Dutch elm disease (DED); filamentous pathogens; forest diseases; poplar rust; sudden oak death (SOD); tree disease resistance; white pine blister rust (WPBR).

Publication types

Review