Chapter 17 - Improvement of ornamental plants through CRISPR-Cas

Abstract

CRISPR-Cas is a targeted genome editing (GE) tool widely used in genetic engineering for the manipulation of plant species and attractiveness of the ornamental plant traits to enhance economic importance of crops, vegetables, wild species domestication, improving agricultural biotechnology, and breeding strategy. Crops not only provide consumable food resources and fuel for human life but are also used as fodder for livestock. The rapidly increasing population needs food nourishment, facing global economic crises, climate change issues, shortage of water resources, decreasing agri-land fill by housing society, unpredictable earthquakes, and flood disasters which not only destroy seasonal crops but also abolish stores gains and livestock. There is a need for urgent attention on how to save our natural resources, bring innovation in the development of global goals, sustainable agriculture, livestock improvement, eco-friendly environment, maintenance of zero hunger, and improve the productivity of plant traits technology. Ornamental plants have economic importance not only used for landscaping or cutting flowers but also have medicinal and phytochemical values. There is a need to explore the transcriptomic study of ornamental plants for the novel gene traits of interest which play an important role in the production of floral scent, fluorescents, adaptation to various climatic conditions, resistance to different seasonal, biotic and abiotic stresses such as heat, drought, salinity, and lack of nutrients. This chapter focuses on the list of genomes editing gardening plants, genes sequenced, modified, or transformed flowering plants traits through CRISPR-Cas.