Chapter 12 - Fruit crops improvement using CRISPR/Cas9 system

Abstract

Fruits are an important source of our balanced diet with numerous micronutrients. Micronutrient deficiency among children and young people is one of the major concerns worldwide. Although traditional breeding has improved the production and nutritional value of fruit crops, but it is still not sufficient to meet the current demands of the growing population. The advancement in genetic engineering has led to the emergence of CRISPR/Cas9 technology as a versatile genome editing tool. The utility of CRISPR as a tool to create mutation at specific genomic loci could be exploited to improve the agronomic trait and nutrition value of fruit crops. The DNA-free CRISPR system does not involve the integration of any foreign DNA elements; therefore it may alleviate the regulatory issues associated with the transgenic crops and their easy acceptance. CRISPR/Cas9 based genome editing has been successfully established in various fruit crops such as apple, kiwi, orange and banana, which have set an example for its applicability and usefulness. In this chapter, the application of CRISPR tools in fruit crop improvement and the possible approaches toward development of transgene-free fruit crops are broadly discussed.