Crop Breeding through Precision Genome Editing

(Madison, Wisconsin - Alvin Wei-Jen Wong)

- Advances in crop breeding through precision genome editing

Global climate change and adverse abiotic and biotic factors are limiting agricultural productivity, thereby exacerbating the challenge for crop scientists to meet the growing demands of the global food supply.

The introduction of applied genetics into agriculture through plant breeding has facilitated the development of hybrid varieties and improved crop productivity. However, developing new varieties from existing gene pools poses challenges for crop breeders.

Genetic engineering has the potential to expand genetic diversity by introducing new genes into crops. However, random insertion of exogenous DNA into the plant nuclear genome often leads to silencing of the transgene. Recent advances in the field of plant breeding include the development of a new breeding technique called genome editing.

Genome editing technology has emerged as a powerful tool for precisely modifying specific sites in crop genomes, which has been a long-standing goal of plant breeders.

The salient features of genome editing technology are the precise modification of the target genome, the absence of exogenous DNA in genome-edited plants, and faster and cheaper genome modification methods, making it widely used in crop breeding.

[More to come ...]