Detailed Insight into Various Classes of the CRISPR/Cas System to Develop Future Crops

Breeders and scientists are working to enhance the quality and yield of the main food crops in order to meet the growing worldwide demand for food. Climate change is projected to lead to an increase in plant diseases and environmental stresses like drought and floods, which causes a threat to food security. Recently, plant genetics and breeding have undergone a revolution due to genome editing. The development of CRISPR/CRISPR-associated nuclease (CRISPR/Cas) genome-editing technology has provided new strategies for designing crops that are resistant to stress challenges among other genome-editing techniques. Specifically based on Cas9 and Cas12a, CRISPR/Cas systems are widely used in plant genetic and metabolic modification. In this chapter, we present a thorough insight into the mechanics of several CRISPR/Cas systems used as genetic modification tools for creating plants with desired traits. Consideration is given to a number of recently developed CRISPR/Cas systems, such as xCas9, Cas12a (Cpf1), prime editing and base editing technologies. We conclude by providing an outlook on the potential uses of CRISPR/Cas technology to develop future crops.