Abstract
Recent developments in genome editing have opened new vistas for functional genomics and crop improvement. The CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat)/Cas9 system is a powerful tool for genome editing. The exponentially growing world population will need more food with better nutritional content, improved stress tolerance, enhanced disease resistance, and there is no other way to ignore the benefits of advanced crop improvement tools such as genome editing for climate-smart sustainable agriculture. The discovery of high precision genome-editing tools has advanced plant genetic engineering to newer heights. CRISPR/Cas9 was adopted from a naturally occurring genome editing system in bacteria. Unlike the previous generation genome editing tools such as zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) and transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), CRISPR/Cas9 brings in simplicity in cloning, versatility in deploying various guide RNAs, and cost-effectiveness. A number of crop species have been successfully subjected to genome editing and this technique shows great potential towards achieving global food security. From a consumer point of view, safety aspect of biotech products is of paramount importance; however, the regulatory procedures need to evolve continuously to cope up with the rapid changes happening in the biotechnology sector. This chapter discusses the significance of this novel genome editing technique and its potential for crop improvement.
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