Abstract
Genome-editing technologies offer unprecedented opportunities for crop improvement with superior precision and speed. This review presents an analysis of the current state of genome editing in the major cereal crops- rice, maize, wheat and barley. Genome editing has been used to achieve important agronomic and quality traits in cereals. These include adaptive traits to mitigate the effects of climate change, tolerance to biotic stresses, higher yields, more optimal plant architecture, improved grain quality and nutritional content, and safer products. Not all traits can be achieved through genome editing, and several technical and regulatory challenges need to be overcome for the technology to realize its full potential. Genome editing, however, has already revolutionized cereal crop improvement and is poised to shape future agricultural practices in conjunction with other breeding innovations.
Highlights
Rice, wheat, and maize are the three major cereal crops supplying more than 42% of all calories consumed by the global population (Ricepedia 2020)
This review presents an analysis of the current state of genome editing in the major cereal crops rice, maize, wheat and barley
The advancement of a relatively simple editing approach by the Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas system combined with the availability of open-source data of genes and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) involved in important traits in cereals has resulted in a surge of publications in genome editing for crop improvement
Summary
Modern varieties of cereal crops with higher yields and more resilient to environmental stresses than previous strains have contributed to global food security over the last half century. The precision and time needed for the development of new varieties with desirable traits to adapt to climate change and keep up with rapid population growth need to be improved substantially. This review presents an analysis of the current state of genome editing in the major cereal crops rice, maize, wheat and barley. The review provides the reader with an overview of the latest applications of genome editing for trait improvement in cereals, and discusses technical limitations and regulatory challenges that need to be overcome for the technology to make an impact in global agriculture.
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