CRISPR-based Genome Editing Technology and Its Applications in Oil Crops

Oil crops, mainly comprised of soybean, rapeseed, groundnut, sunflower and etc., have provided substantial edible oil and other tremendous nutrients for human beings, as well as valuable biofuels for associated industries. The genetic improvement of significant oil crops and/or domesticating novel high-yielding oil crops are in urgent need to cope with the ever-increasing demand for various oil crop products. CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats)-based genome editing technology, born a few years ago, edits stretches of DNA in a targeted and RNA-dependent fashion. The Characteristics of targeted mutagenesis and easy manipulation owned by the technology make it have been applied to many plants and exhibited great potential in the genetic improvement of many important oil crops. In the face of growing need for oil crop products and the rapid developments in CRISPR-based genome editing technology, a critical review regarding the technology and its application in oil crops is badly required to provide references for the better use of this technology to modify the oil crops for higher yield. In this review paper, we briefly described the CRISPR-based genome editing technology and summarized its applications and future prospects in oil crops.