Abstract
AbstractMaize (Zea mays ssp. mays) is the most world-widely cultivated agricultural crop and over the past century, its yield per unit land area has increased consistently due to both breeding efforts and improvement in management. Cross breeding, mutation breeding, and transgenic breeding are the main methodologies adopted for maize improvement. The first maize transgenic hybrids were commercialized more than 20 years ago, and till now more than 150 different events of transgenic maize have been approved for commercial cultivation. The sequencing of the maize genome and the development of advanced genomic tools provided the biologists with the theoretical information necessary to attempt the genome modification at the pre-intended genomic loci. The tremendous advances brought about by CRISPR/Cas systems from first applications to nowadays has made genome editing a powerful tool for precise maize improvement. Although many CRISPR-Cas-edited genes have been documented to improve maize traits of agronomic interest, only a few lines have been tested in field trials; additional work for determining potential breeding values of edited maize lines must be done in terms of field tests. The integration of CRISPR-Cas technology in the breeding of new maize varieties also depends on existing and future regulatory policies that will be adopted worldwide.
Publisher
Springer Nature Switzerland