Double-Strand Break Repair and Its Application to Genome Engineering in Plants

Abstract

The induction of double-strand breaks (DSBs) is the basis for the targeted modification of plant genomes. At the same time, the efficient repair of DSBs is important for the survival of all organisms. To efficiently employ DSB repair for genome manipulation using synthetic nucleases, detailed knowledge of the repair process is required. Many aspects of the mechanisms and factors involved in DSB repair have been elucidated in plants over the last two decades. Here, we seek to summarize our current knowledge about the process of DSB repair via nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) as well as homologous recombination (HR) and place this knowledge in the context of strategies applied for genome engineering in plants. While the induction of a unique DSB is generally sufficient for editing single genes, the induction of multiple DSBs can be applied for the engineering of genomes. There is no question that the controlled induction of DSBs exhibits great potential for restructuring plant genomes.