Genome editing in sorghum

Abstract

Genetic engineering plays a key role in plant functional research and genetic improvement. A novel and powerful gene editing technique, CRISPR/Cas9, which was developed from a type II bacterial immune system, opened up a new era in precision genetic engineering in plants. This technique is based on a non-permanent transgene system and is starting to be adopted for precise gene editing in major cereal crops. It offers tremendous potential to accelerate crop improvement in a way that potentially reduces or eliminates the cumbersome and expensive regulatory processes associated with traditional transgenic crops. This chapter describes the advance of gene editing applied to sorghum, a drought tolerant C4 crop, and a successful strategy of CRISPR/Cas9 mediated gene family editing to improve sorghum digestibility and protein quality. It also discusses future prospects of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing for sorghum genetic improvement.