The Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)-
CRISPR-associated protein (Cas)-mediated genome editing is a recently developed
gene editing technology, which has transformed functional and applied genomics. This
technology is precise, cost-efficient, and rapid than other previously developed genome
editing tools such as Meganucleases (MNs), Zinc-Finger Nucleases (ZFNs) and
Transcription Activator-Like Effector Nucleases (TALENs). The CRISPR-Cas9 system
is widely exploited for developing plants with enhanced tolerance towards various
environmental stresses, resistance against pathogens, improved yield and nutritional
superiority. The method is robustly applied to alter both DNA and RNA at specific
target regions. The availability of well annotated genome sequence and an efficient
genetic transformation system may open numerous possibilities to gain desirable traits
in crop plants employing CRISPR-Cas-mediated genome editing technology. In this
chapter, we summarized the basics of CRISPR-Cas technology, various kinds of
CRISPR systems and their associated Cas proteins, application in generating abiotic
and biotic stress tolerant crops, and bottlenecks of CRISPR-Cas systems.
Keywords: Genome editing, CRISPR-Cas, Abiotic stress, Biotic stress, Crop improvement.
