Advancing Metabolic Engineering in Plants Using CRISPR/Cas

In plant biology, a wide spectrum of secondary metabolites is produced. These compounds are essential in the structure of the plant; these functions include growth, protection mechanisms, adaptations, or reproduction. These secondary products contain a smaller set of utilities, but they are essential for humans as they are used as nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals. The synthesis of these metabolites which are comprised of various metabolic pathways and their controlling factors is significant in metabolite engineering. The CRISPR/Cas9 system has been widely applied in genome editing. This system is characterized by a high level of accuracy, rapidity and flexibility by virtue of its capacity to target a number of sites. In addition to its versatility in the gene-editing process, the CRISPR/Cas9 system facilitates a comprehensive profiling strategy in functional genomics. The procedure is useful in identification of genes that are implicated in different plant secondary metabolic pathways. Nevertheless, considering the evidenced CRISPR/Cas9 applications, there are several limitations that affect its application in plant genome editing. This chapter offers an overview of the current state of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated metabolic engineering in plants and addresses the problems faced in this pursuit.