Harnessing CRISPR/Cas System for Resistance against Abiotic Stresses in Rice: Recent Advances, Applications, Challenges, and Prospects

Half of the world’s population consume rice (Oryza sativa L.) as staple food. The last couple of decades have witnessed a tremendous increase in the productivity of the rice by using the conventional, mutation, and molecular breeding approaches for development of elite rice cultivars. Nevertheless, on the same time, several biotic and abiotic stresses are putting continuous pressure on rice cultivars hampering their yield potential and lowering productivity, and ultimately threating the global food security. In this changing climate scenario, there is an utmost need to breed for climate resilient rice cultivars to feed the ever-growing population worldwide that is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050. Latest developments in the field of functional genomics have revolutionized agriculture and plant sciences. The greatest landmark of the last decade in this respect is the advent of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system. It is widely accepted and most advanced form of genome editing due to high efficiency, robustness, and simplicity. Owing to model organism for monocot and rich genomic resources coupled with small genome size makes rice more suitable crop for genetic manipulation. In this book chapter, we have focused on the genome editing strategies for rice improvement, thereby highlighting the applications and advancements of CRISPR/Cas9 system. We also shed light on the role of CRISPR/Cpf1, base editors, and prime editors in the field of genome editing highlighting major challenges and future implications of these tools in rice improvement.