Carotenoid Biofortification of Crops in the CRISPR Era

Xiongjie Zheng; Hendrik N J Kuijer; Salim Al-Babili

doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2020.12.003

Carotenoid Biofortification of Crops in the CRISPR Era

Trends Biotechnol. 2021 Sep;39(9):857-860. doi: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2020.12.003. Epub 2020 Dec 29.

Authors

Xiongjie Zheng¹, Hendrik N J Kuijer¹, Salim Al-Babili²

Affiliations

¹ King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, Center for Desert Agriculture, the BioActives Laboratory, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
² King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, Center for Desert Agriculture, the BioActives Laboratory, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: salim.babili@kaust.edu.sa.

PMID: 33384170
DOI: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2020.12.003

Abstract

Carotenoids are micronutrients important for human health. The continuous improvements in clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-based genome-editing techniques make rapid, DNA/transgene-free and targeted multiplex genetic modification a reality, thus promising to accelerate the breeding and generation of 'golden' staple crops. We discuss here the progress and future prospects of CRISPR/Cas9 applications for carotenoid biofortification.

Keywords: CRISPR/Cas9; biofortification; carotenoids; genome-editing; vitamin A deficiency.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Biofortification* / trends
CRISPR-Cas Systems*
Carotenoids*
Gene Editing / trends
Plants, Genetically Modified* / genetics

Substances

Carotenoids