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Abstract Plant breeding relies on the presence of genetic variation, which is generated by a random process of mutagenesis that acts on existing gene pools. This variation is then recombined into new forms at frequencies impacted by the local euchromatin and heterochromatin environment. The result is a genetic lottery where plant breeders face increasingly low odds of generating a “winning” plant genotype. Genome editing tools enable targeted manipulation of the genome, providing a means to increase genetic variation and enhancing the chances for plant breeding success. Editing can be applied in a targeted way, where known genetic variation that improves performance can be directly brought into lines of interest through either deletion or insertion. This empowers approaches that are traditionally difficult such as novel domestication and introgression of wild accessions into a germplasm pool. Furthermore, broader editing-mediated approaches such as recombination enhancement and targeted random mutagenesis bring novel ways of variation creation to the plant breeding toolbox. Continued development and application of plant genome editing tools will be needed to aid in meeting critical global crop improvement needs.
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This content will become publicly available on March 1, 2026
Eliminating tissue culture from plant gene editing in the near future: A wish or reality?
Traditional plant breeding methods alone are insufficient to guarantee food security for a growing global population under a changing climate, necessitating more advanced approaches to develop productive and resilient crop varieties. The development of genome editing tools, particularly CRISPR/CAS, are significantly speeding up crop improvement by enabling targeted breeding in most crop species. However, for many crop species, the need for tissue culture remains a major bottle neck, slowing the progress of crop improvement. In this review, we are presenting and discussing approaches for delivering genome editing tools into a wide variety of crop plants, including perennials, and ideally without integration of transgenes. We suggest that efficient non-tissue culture delivery systems for high-performance genome editing are needed to fully reach the genome engineering potential in crop plants.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2329893
- PAR ID:
- 10565665
- Publisher / Repository:
- Elsevier
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Current Plant Biology
- Volume:
- 41
- Issue:
- C
- ISSN:
- 2214-6628
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 100433
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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