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CRISPR Cas-9: A genome editing tool for the improvement of horticultural crops: A review

Horticultural crops, being a prime source of essential nutrients, staple food and foreign exchange for a large part of human population, exhibit a unique status among growers and consumers. Ever increasing population across the world and changing climate conditions are badly affecting food security. Urgent needed improvement of production and enhanced adaptation to changing environmental conditions of horticultural crops seems unlikely to be met by conventional breeding technologies. Fortunately, one of the modern molecular techniques namely “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)” technology has opened a new window to genetically improve these crops. Employing CRISPR technology, many crops for instance tomato, potato, watermelon and grapes have been successfully genetically engineered in order to improve their nutritional value and enhance adaptability towards changing climates. In the same way, resistance against many potential diseases have been developed modifying the genetics of certain horticultural crops. In this mini review, we have briefly discussed the successful CRISPR-Cas9 based studies conducted in horticultural crops and tried to present valuable source for the horticulturists working on biotic and abiotic stresses.