| Abstract: | The CRISPR/Cas system Up to this point plant breeding was based on the utilization of unspecific and time‐consuming procedures to accomplish improvements in the agronomic traits of our crop plants. This fundamentally changed the last years since the CRISPR/Cas system now provides a highly precise and reliable tool to achieve these goals in a fast and efficient way. The programmable induction of double‐strand breaks enables the targeted introduction of favored changes at almost any desired site within the genome that cannot be distinguished from naturally occurring variations any longer. This already enabled the generation of crop plants with agronomically interesting traits. The current characterization of additional CRISPR/Cas systems not only expands our molecular toolbox which allows us to regulate the cell metabolism on very different levels but also starts changing the entire biotechnology and biology fields fundamentally. |
