Base Editing: The Ever Expanding Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) Tool Kit for Precise Genome Editing in Plants.

Peisong Hu,Shakeel Ahmad,Xiangjin Wei,Shaoqing Tang,Gaoneng Shao,Yusong Lv,Mahmuda Binte Monsur

doi:10.3390/genes11040466

Abstract

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR associated protein 9 (Cas9), a newly developed genome-editing tool, has revolutionized animal and plant genetics by facilitating modification of target genes. This simple, convenient base-editing technology was developed to improve the precision of genome editing. Base editors generate precise point mutations by permanent base conversion at a specific point, with very low levels of insertions and deletions. Different plant base editors have been established by fusing various nucleobase deaminases with Cas9, Cas13, or Cas12a (Cpf1), proteins. Adenine base editors can efficiently convert adenine (A) to guanine (G), whereas cytosine base editors can convert cytosine (C) to thymine (T) in the target region. RNA base editors can induce a base substitution of A to inosine (I) or C to uracil (U). In this review, we describe the precision of base editing systems and their revolutionary applications in plant science; we also discuss the limitations and future perspectives of this approach.

Highlights

The development of genome-editing technology has revolutionized agricultural studies, enabling the improvement of different plant traits [1,2,3,4,5]
Various tools have been widely used for precise genome editing in plants, including clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) based gene editing techniques, such as CRISPR/CRISPR associated protein 9 (Cas9), CRISPR/Cas12a (Cpf1), and CRISPR/Cas13 [6,7,8,9], owing to their reliability
Different outcomes can be achieved via two major DNA repair pathways, i.e., nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) and homology-directed repair (HDR) pathways

Summary

Introduction

The development of genome-editing technology has revolutionized agricultural studies, enabling the improvement of different plant traits [1,2,3,4,5]. Various tools have been widely used for precise genome editing in plants, including clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) based gene editing techniques, such as CRISPR/CRISPR associated protein 9 (Cas9), CRISPR/Cas12a (Cpf1), and CRISPR/Cas13 [6,7,8,9], owing to their reliability. Ali et al [18] combine Agrobacterium VirD2 relaxase with Cas endonuclease and generate potential Cas9-VirD2 for allele modification in rice To overcome these limitations, researchers have aimed to develop editing technologies with an improved efficiency, reliability, and precision. Future perspectives and current limitations of base-editing tools are discussed

Evolution of Base Editors

Applications of Base Editing Tools for Plant Improvement

Findings

Future Perspectives and Limitations