Frontiers in Genome Editing (Feb 2022)

Mini-Review: Transgenerational CRISPR/Cas9 Gene Editing in Plants

  • Lennert Impens,
  • Lennert Impens,
  • Thomas B. Jacobs,
  • Thomas B. Jacobs,
  • Hilde Nelissen,
  • Hilde Nelissen,
  • Dirk Inzé,
  • Dirk Inzé,
  • Laurens Pauwels,
  • Laurens Pauwels

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fgeed.2022.825042
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4

Abstract

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CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing has been used extensively in a wide variety of plant species. Creation of loss-of-function alleles, promoter variants and mutant collections are a few of the many uses of genome editing. In a typical workflow for sexually reproducing species, plants are generated that contain an integrated CRISPR/Cas9 transgene. After editing of the gene of interest, T-DNA null segregants can be identified in the next generation that contain only the desired edit. However, maintained presence of the CRISPR/Cas9 transgene and continued editing in the subsequent generations offer a range of applications for model plants and crops. In this review, we define transgenerational gene editing (TGE) as the continued editing of CRISPR/Cas9 after a genetic cross. We discuss the concept of TGE, summarize the current main applications, and highlight special cases to illustrate the importance of TGE for plant genome editing research and breeding.

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