CURRENT STATUS OF GENOME EDITING IN PLANTS AND ITS APPLICATION: A REVIEW

Abstract

In today’s world, almost one billion people suffer from chronic malnourishment, while at the same time our agricultural systems are degrading, exacerbated by the loss of biodiversity and the increasing uncertainties of climate change. With the global population projected to exceed 9 billion by 2050, contemporary agriculture will face enormous challenges, requiring crops with higher yields and of improved quality, and needing fewer inputs. Although conventional breeding is currently the most widely used approach in crop improvement, it is labour intensive and it usually takes several years to progress from the early stages of screening phenotypes and genotypes to the first crosses into commercial varieties. Genetically modified (GM) crops that have beneficial traits are produced by the transfer of genes or gene elements of known function into elite crop varieties. Despite the promise that GM crops hold for global food security, their use is affected by largely unsubstantiated health and environmental safety concerns. Thus, the introduction of genome editing into modern breeding programs have facilitated rapid and precise crop improvement. Genome editing could be used to edit the genome of any organism. It is the manipulation of the specific gene loci to gain genome modifications, such as insertions, deletions or point mutations. Editing genomes with the Bacterial Immune System Technology (BIST) has emerged as a powerful technology for genome editing and is now widely used in research to explore gene function. This technology has been increasingly applied to the study and treatment of crop pests and diseases and human diseases. The technology of genome editing involves cuts at specific DNA sequences with enzymes called engineering nucleases.