Abstract
Global population is estimated to increase by 25% and reach 10 billion over the next 30 years. Conventional breeding methods have thus far produced crops with enhanced nutritional status and high yields to meet the food requirements of the growing population. But the current pace of yield increase for major crops, including rice (Oryza sativa), wheat (Triticum aestivum), and maize (Zea mays), is insufficient to meet future demand. A major limitation for plant breeding and crop improvement, the time-consuming crop production approaches, which in general allow only one or two generations per year, have been advanced by “speed breeding” (SB) by reducing the breeding cycle and accelerating crop research through speedy generation advancement. Genome editing has been exploited with the promise of developing new crops in less time with a very low possibility of off-target effects and can be achieved in any laboratory with any crop, even those with complex genomes. However, gene editing still entails time-consuming tissue culture, in addition to specialized labs with a level of physical containment appropriate for undertaking genetic manipulation using CRISPR reagents. Systems that integrate gene editing directly with a SB platform, for instance, ExpressEDIT could avoid the barriers of in vitro manipulation of plant materials. Though not yet routine, several steps are operational on the way to fast-tracking genome editing to breed better crop varieties which are highlighted in the present chapter. Integrating state-of-the-art technologies such as genome editing with SB could enable plant breeders to meet the food security challenges of feeding a growing population of 10 billion.
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Hussain, K., Mahrukh, Nisa, R.T., Zaid, A., Mushtaq, M. (2023). The Utilization of Speed Breeding and Genome Editing to Achieve Zero Hunger. In: Prakash, C.S., Fiaz, S., Nadeem, M.A., Baloch, F.S., Qayyum, A. (eds) Sustainable Agriculture in the Era of the OMICs Revolution. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15568-0_1
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