Genome Editing in Horticultural Plants: Present Applications and Future Perspective

This chapter considers the genome editing technologies that have been utilized for breeding horticultural plants. Many examples of the successful application of genome editing technologies including ZFN, TALEN, and especially CRISPR/Cas systems in improving diverse characteristics of horticultural plants are mentioned and discussed. Based on the literature review, CRISPR/Cas technology has proved its potential in altering many genes of interest in horticultural plants including fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants for improving agronomically important traits and attributes such as growth rate, seed size, flowering time, flower color, storage time, resistance to biotic stresses, tolerance to abiotic stresses, herbicide tolerance, metabolism, fruit color, fruit ripening, and so forth. This advanced technology paves the way for more favorable and precise manipulation of plant genomes to improve crop performance.