Revisiting CRISPR/Cas-mediated crop improvement: Special focus on nutrition

• Published in: Journal of biosciences 2020-12, Vol.45 (1), Article 137
• Main Authors: Kaul, Tanushri, Sony, Sonia Khan, Verma, Rachana, Motelb, Khaled Fathy Abdel, Prakash, Arul T, Eswaran, Murugesh, Bharti, Jyotsna, Nehra, Mamta, Kaul, Rashmi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Artificial intelligence; Biology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Biotechnology; Cell Biology; CRISPR; Crop improvement; Crops; Editing; Gene editing; Genetic Intervention in Plants: Mechanisms and Benefits; Genome editing; Genome-wide association studies; Genomes; Homology; Life Sciences; Microbiology; Non-homologous end joining; Nuclease; Nutrient deficiency; Nutrition; Nutritive value; Plant Sciences; Review; Transcription; Transcription activator-like effector nucleases; Zinc; Zinc finger proteins; Zoology
• ISSN: 0250-5991; 0973-7138
• DOI: 10.1007/s12038-020-00094-7

Genome editing (GE) technology has emerged as a multifaceted strategy that instantaneously popularised the mechanism to modify the genetic constitution of an organism. The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated (Cas) protein-based genome editing (CRISPR/Cas) approach has huge potential for efficacious editing of genomes of numerous organisms. This framework has demonstrated to be more economical in contrast to mega-nucleases, zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs), and transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) for its flexibility, versatility, and potency. The advent of sequence-specific nucleases (SSNs) allowed the precise induction of double-strand breaks (DSBs) into the genome, ensuring desired alterations through non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) or homology-directed repair (HDR) pathways. Researchers have utilized CRISPR/Cas-mediated genome alterations across crop varieties to generate desirable characteristics for yield enhancement, enriched nutritional quality, and stress-resistance. Here, we highlighted the recent progress in the area of nutritional improvement of crops via the CRISPR/Cas-based tools for fundamental plant research and crop genetic advancements. Application of this genome editing aids in unraveling the basic biology facts in plants supplemented by the incorporation of genome-wide association studies, artificial intelligence, and various bioinformatic frameworks, thereby providing futuristic model studies and their affirmations. Strategies for reducing the ‘off-target’ effects and the societal approval of genome-modified crops developed via this modern biotechnological approach have been reviewed.