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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.

Sec. Technical Advances in Plant Science

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1636024

Innovative Opportunities for Gene Editing Technology in Crop Breeding: From the Perspective of Literature Analysis

Provisionally accepted
Hui  ZhangHui Zhang1Ru  YaoRu Yao1Qian  JiaQian Jia1Shijie  QiShijie Qi1Ying  HeYing He2Jingjuan  ZhaoJingjuan Zhao1*Limin  ChuanLimin Chuan1*
  • 1Institute of Data Science and Agricultural Economics Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing, China
  • 2Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Institute of Agricultural Information, Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Gene editing technology is a revolutionary biotechnology that has shown great potential and advantages in crop breeding. Current research has proposed many technical methods and design schemes for gene editing technology in crop breeding. However, summarization and analysis are often based on research and application of a certain technology, lacking a literature content mining perspective to summarize and analyze the application of gene editing and other technologies in crop breeding. At the same time, there are insufficient identification of future research and innovation opportunities of gene editing technology in crop breeding. This study utilized natural language processing, deep learning, and Generative Topographic Mapping (GTM) to conduct an in-depth analysis of the literature on gene editing technology in crop breeding from the perspective of literature mining. Key technical terms in this field were identified, a literature technical map was constructed, technical blank points were identified, and innovative opportunities for blank technology combinations were analyzed. The results showed that from the literature data from 2020-2024, 13 technology combinations were identified. These technical contents cover the multi-technology combination strategy of molecular genetic research, the core technology of gene function research in molecular genetics of biotic and abiotic stress, the technical means of analyzing the molecular mechanisms of stress resistance, the technical scheme of genetic improvement, etc., which providing support for revealing the potential technological innovation opportunities of gene editing technology in the field of crop breeding. This study can scientifically, objectively, and efficiently identify technological innovation opportunities from literature. Based on the research results, future research can carry out experimental research and ap-plication exploration, so as to support the application and technological innovation of gene editing technology in crop breeding.

Keywords: Gene editing technology, crop breeding, literature mining, Key technology, Technology opportunity identification

Received: 27 May 2025; Accepted: 04 Aug 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Yao, Jia, Qi, He, Zhao and Chuan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Jingjuan Zhao, Institute of Data Science and Agricultural Economics Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing, China
Limin Chuan, Institute of Data Science and Agricultural Economics Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing, China

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