Applications of CRISPR/CAS9 in plant genome editing

Many studies of the applications of CRISPR/Cas9 on animals and human cells have been published. Today, CRISPR/Cas9 not only edits target genes of mammalian cells, but also is considered to be a revolutionary gene editing technology in plant biology. Actually, this fascinating tool has already been rapidly developed and successfully applied to alter and/or edit many genes in a variety of plant species, including the model plant species as well as agriculturally important crops, such as cotton, maize, wheat, and rice, in order to improve the yield and quality of plants and tolerance to environment stress. In this chapter, we reviewed the recent applications of CRISPR/Cas9 in various plant research and further discussed the future prospects of this area. In particular, this chapter may provide some useful suggestions for the study of medicinal plants.