The Potential of Genome Editing for Improving Seed Oil Content and Fatty Acid Composition in Oilseed Crops

A continuous rise in demand for vegetable oils, which comprise mainly the storage lipid triacylglycerol, is fueling a surge in research efforts to increase seed oil content and improve fatty acid composition in oilseed crops. Progress in this area has been achieved using both conventional breeding a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Lipids 2020-09, Vol.55 (5), p.495-512
Main Authors: Subedi, Udaya, Jayawardhane, Kethmi N., Pan, Xue, Ozga, Jocelyn, Chen, Guanqun, Foroud, Nora A., Singer, Stacy D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biotechnology
CRISPR/Cas
Crop improvement
Oil yield
Oilseed quality
Prime editing
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A continuous rise in demand for vegetable oils, which comprise mainly the storage lipid triacylglycerol, is fueling a surge in research efforts to increase seed oil content and improve fatty acid composition in oilseed crops. Progress in this area has been achieved using both conventional breeding and transgenic approaches to date. However, further advancements using traditional breeding methods will be complicated by the polyploid nature of many oilseed crops and associated time constraints, while public perception and the prohibitive cost of regulatory processes hinders the commercialization of transgenic oilseed crops. As such, genome editing using CRISPR/Cas is emerging as a breakthrough breeding tool that could provide a platform to keep pace with escalating demand while potentially minimizing regulatory burden. In this review, we discuss the technology itself and progress that has been made thus far with respect to its use in oilseed crops to improve seed oil content and quality. Furthermore, we examine a number of genes that may provide ideal targets for genome editing in this context, as well as new CRISPR‐related tools that have the potential to be applied to oilseed plants and may allow additional gains to be made in the future.
ISSN:0024-4201
1558-9307
DOI:10.1002/lipd.12249