New strategies to advance plant transformation
Mohammad B. Belaffif, Morgan C Brown, Brenda Marcial, Can Baysal, Kankshita Swaminathan
Abstract
Plants are an important source of food, energy, and bioproducts. Advances in genetics, genomics-assisted breeding, and biotechnology have facilitated the combining of desirable traits into elite cultivars. To ensure sustainable crop production in the face of climate challenges and population growth, it is essential to develop and implement techniques that increase crop yield and resilience in environments facing water scarcity, nutrient deficiencies, and other abiotic and biotic stressors. Plant transformation and genome editing are critical tools in the development of new cultivars. Here, we discuss recent advances in plant transformation technologies aimed at enhancing efficiency, throughput, and the number of transformable genotypes. These advancements include the use of morphogenic regulators, virus-mediated genetic modifications, and in planta transformation with Rhizobium rhizogenes . • Morphogenic regulator combinations can greatly increase the success of plant transformation and regeneration in multiple species. • Development of in planta plant transformation methods with minimal or no tissue culture steps is gaining traction. • Virus-induced genome-editing methods offer gene editing, gene expression, and pathway perturbations in planta. • Advances in both tissue culture and in planta plant transformation pave the way for high-throughput plant transformation in the future.