A birds-eye-view on CRISPR-Cas system in agriculture

Abstract

Targeted genome editing by Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat- CRISPR-associated (CRISPR-Cas) system has revolutionized basic and translational plant research. There is widespread use of CRISPR-Cas technology which has the potential to address challenges like food insecurity and climate crisis. Crops with improved traits (e.g., higher yield, drought tolerant) that would take several years to generate can now be developed at a much reduced time, drastically expediting the availability of the crops for release in the market. However, several factors are involved in successfully applying the CRISPR-Cas system in agriculture and the widespread adoption and acceptability of genome-edited products that involve multiple institutions and people from different spheres of society. Besides the scientific and legal intricacies of releasing CRISPR-edited crops, “public perception” equally matters in successfully deploying the technology and its products. “Lack of” or “overwhelming” information can both affect the success of the CRISPR-Cas system in translational agriculture research. A bird’s-eye-view of the CRISPR-Cas genome editing tool for people from different strata of society is essential for the wide acceptability of genome-edited crops. This review provides a general overview of the CRISPR-Cas system, the concept of technology development, challenges, and regulations involved in translational research. Graphical abstract