Post-genomic era of CRISPR/Cas technology in ornamental plants: advantages, limitations, and prospects

Abstract

The global ornamental plant industry is still booming, and the demand for new combinations of plant quality, resistance, and germplasm resources is increasing. Traditional hybridization, mutagenesis, and mutation breeding strategies have made outstanding contributions to cultivating new varieties. However, due to its long cultivation cycle, there are limitations in adapting to the rapidly changing quality requirements of the market. In the past 20 years of the genome era, especially the emergence and development of transgenic and gene editing technologies, molecular biologists have recognized and verified the intrinsic molecular mechanism of many plant traits, providing an operational blueprint for efficient and directional molecular breeding of ornamental plants. The latest development of CRISPR/Cas technology, knockout, and knock-in technology, provides a powerful tool to meet the simultaneous increase of beneficial traits and knockout of adverse traits. Its faster breeding cycle, lower breeding cost, and higher accuracy show a broader prospect for molecular breeding in the post-genome era. In this paper, the application of CRISPR/Cas technology in ornamental plants is reviewed. In addition, we also explore the limitations of its use in ornamental plants. Although CRISPR/Cas technology has many advantages, in some applications, the argument against the use of CRISPR/Cas technology is valid. We think it is important to carefully assess the exact benefits and disadvantages of using this technique in floral crops.

Keywords

• crispr
• cas
• ornamentals
• genome editing
• sequencing