CRISPR/Cas: A Genome-Editing Tool for Crops Improvement

By 2050, there will be 9.7 billion people on the planet, up from 7.3 billion now. Increasing population and decreasing agricultural land requires urgent attention for crop improvement in terms of quantity and quality. Production of tropical crops is highly risky due to pest outbreaks and increased abiotic pressures brought on by climate change. Nutritional crops demand attention on several aspects as enhanced production to meet growing needs, incorporation of superior qualities in terms of nutraceutical properties, and to face challenges against poised unfavorable conditions or environmental stress in various geographical regions. Recent breakthroughs in genetic engineering have substantially benefited the food and agricultural industries by improving essential agronomic features. Advent of transgenic crops has opened new avenue of method for genetic engineering and crop improvement. Recently, the specificity of gene editing has further enhanced the improvement of traits in crop plants precisely. Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats and associated protein (CRISPR-Cas) is most popular method of genome editing nowadays. This challenge has already been subsidized in rice by improving both grain quality and quantity. In addition to production incorporation of genes with pharmacological applications as lycopene enhancement in tomato, carotenoids-rich rice or reduction in gluten among hexaploid wheat are some well-known examples of CRISPR-Cas applications. A brief description of recent advances is presented.