Article: RECENT ADVANCES IN PLANT BREEDING MODALITIES WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON GENETIC MODIFICATION: A REVIEW

Article Category: Review articles

DOI: 10.7897/2277-4343.130371

Pages: 113-117

Author: Vaishali *, K. Madhusudana Rao

Abstract: With the advent of a new era and increasing population, there is a global increase in the demand for world food requirements. Plant breeding can be considered a coevolutionary process between humans and edible plants. Plant breeding is the science-driven creative process of developing new plant varieties. Ranging from unintentional changes resulting from the advent of agriculture to the application of molecular tools for precision breeding to the evolution of genetically modified plants in improvising food and health conditions, we have witnessed the advances. Almost throughout the decade, transgenic plants have been engineered for scientific research.  Genetic Modification is a technology that involves inserting DNA into an organism’s genome. To produce a Genetically Modified plant, new DNA is transferred into plant cells. Usually, the cells are grown in tissue culture, developing into plants. The seeds produced by these plants will inherit the new DNA. The present study aims to identify the next steps in genetic modification. Genetic Modification has paved new ways in developing nutritionally enhanced crop food and medicinal plants with desirable traits in a much more environment-friendly manner. CRISPR (Clustered, regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is a unique technology that enables geneticists and medical researchers to edit parts of the genome by removing, adding or altering. This current trend in Genetically Modified organisms has to be visualised in improving health conditions and cultivating healthy plants with desirable traits.

Keyword: Plant Breeding, Genetic modification, Advances, CRISPR