Bioengineering of Cannabis Plants from Lab to the Field: Challenges and Opportunities

In recent years, there have been significant growth and interest in cannabinoid-based drugs for a wide range of medical conditions, some of which are neurogenic diseases, pain control, and seizures. As there is an increased demand for cannabinoid-based drugs, it is necessary to adapt biotechnological techniques to develop new traits for the sophisticated and selective breeding of Cannabis plants aimed for cannabinoid production. Despite Biotech companies aspiring to replace cannabis plants with heterologous hosts, genome editingGenome-editing for precision cannabis breeding is yet to be embraced. The availability of genome-editingGenome editing technologies might herald a new dawn in breeding yielding new varieties with improved profiles of bioactive cannabinoidsCannabinoids and terpenes. In this review, we highlight novel breeding approaches such as marker-assisted selection (MAS), mutation breeding, micropropagationMicropropagation, transgenic breedingTransgenic breeding (TB), and CRISPR/Cas-based editing techniques aimed for enhanced cannabinoidCannabinoids production.