The Expanding Horizon of Genome Editing and Functional Genomics in Plants

Plants have developed different strategies for nutrient sensing, transport, and assimilation. These sophisticated mechanisms often undergo changes in the optimal or sub-optimal presence of nutrients and contribute to regulating the growth and development of plants. Understanding these mechanisms will open up new possibilities to design new strategies to improve nutrient assimilation in plants. Recent advances in genome editing, particularly CRISPR-based technologies such as gene knockout, activation, and repression paved several new ways for functional genomics. The use of these technologies holds immense potential to unravel the molecular players that could further be used to improve the desirable traits including increased yield, disease resistance, drought tolerance, and nutritional improvement. Although these advancements unraveled gene functions that are further implemented for trait modulations, however, several challenges including improving the editing efficiency, reducing the time taken to create transgene-free edited plants, and bypassing the tissue culture methods for recalcitrant plants still need attention. Addressing these challenges will unlock the full potential of genome editing in understanding nutrient assimilation in plants.

The current research topic aims to include the different advances in genome editing tools and their utilization from model plant systems to crops as well as woody plants. Nutrient sensing, transport, and assimilation are the major focus of the current issue, however, is not limited to it. Moreover, the current research topic also focuses on overcoming the challenges of transformation and regeneration in recalcitrant species and the viral-based delivery of the CRISPR/Cas9 system in plants. The research areas that may cover the section but are not limited to include:

1. Functional Genomics from model systems to crops and woody plants for nutrient sensing, transport, and assimilation.
2. Development of genome editing tools.
3. New and rapid methods for plant transformation and genome editing.
4. Utilization of genome editing for trait modulation in plants.
5. Bypassing the tissue culture for genome editing in plants.
6. Development of plant cell line systems for genome editing.

Authors are invited to submit their manuscripts related to but not limited to the use of genome editing for gene functional validation in plants for nutrient sensing, transport, and assimilation. In addition to this, the authors may submit manuscripts related to the development of tools for genome editing, development of rapid transformation methods, designing new systems for genome editing validation, and designing new strategies for CRISPR delivery in plants. The authors may submit the following categories of manuscripts:

· Original Research Articles
· Methods
· Review Articles
· Short Notes
· Opinions
· Perspectives

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: CRISPR/Cas, Genome editing, Functional Genomics, nutrient transport, nutrient sensing

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.