Principles, Applications, and Biosafety of Plant Genome Editing Using CRISPR-Cas9

Abstract

The terms genome engineering, genome editing, and gene editing, refer to modifications (insertions, deletions, substitutions) in the genome of a living organism. The most widely used approach to genome editing nowadays is based on Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats and associated protein 9 (CRISPR-Cas9). In prokaryotes, CRISPR-Cas9 is an adaptive immune system that naturally protects cells from DNA virus infections. CRISPR-Cas9 has been modified to create a versatile genome editing technology that has a wide diversity of applications in medicine, agriculture, and basic studies of gene functions. CRISPR-Cas9 has been used in a growing number of monocot and dicot plant species to enhance yield, quality, and nutritional value, to introduce or enhance tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses, among other applications. Although biosafety concerns remain, genome editing is a promising technology with potential to contribute to food production for the benefit of the growing human population. Here, we review the principles, current advances and applications of CRISPR-Cas9-based gene editing in crop improvement. We also address biosafety concerns and show that humans have been exposed to Cas9 protein homologues long before the use of CRISPR-Cas9 in genome editing.

Precision Breeding Made Real with CRISPR: Illustration through Genetic Resistance to Pathogens

“…In the frame of this review, we focus on genome-editing strategies, i.e., approaches that will lead to stable modifications in plant genomic DNA, and result in transgene-free plants through different delivery strategies that have been extensively described in recent reviews ( Chen et al., 2019 ; Kuluev et al., 2019 ; El-Mounadi et al., 2020 ). Therefore, we will not cover another important aspect of CRISPR that involves the use of a nuclease that targets RNA for modification such as Cas13.…”

Recent Progress in Germplasm Evaluation and Gene Mapping to Enable Breeding of Drought-Tolerant Wheat

“…Genome engineering techniques, including gene pyramiding, gene stacking, and transgenics, broaden the methods available to breed wheat for tolerance to abiotic stress including drought ( Budak et al., 2015 ; Mwadzingeni et al., 2016a ). Clustered Regulatory Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) is a bacterium-derived genome editing system; in this system, a DNA fragment encoding a non-coding RNA sequence is designed to target and then cleave a chromosomal DNA target of interest, within the Cas9 protein complex ( Garneau et al., 2010 ; Budak et al., 2015 ; Zhang et al., 2018 ; Kumar et al., 2019 ; Okada et al., 2019 ; El-Mounadi et al., 2020 ; Shinwari et al., 2020 ). Recently, Wang et al.…”

Gene therapy in wound healing using nanotechnology

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