1st Edition

Gene-Edited Crops The CRISPR Solution for Global Food Security

Edited By Aftab Ahmad, Nayla Munawar, Baohong Zhang Copyright 2025
330 Pages 46 Color & 4 B/W Illustrations
by CRC Press

330 Pages 46 Color & 4 B/W Illustrations
by CRC Press

CRISPR-based genome editing has revolutionized the precise genetic improvement of agriculturally important crops, offering unprecedented precision and efficiency in crop improvement. This powerful technology holds immense potential to reshape the future of food security, enabling scientists and agriculturalists to develop resilient, high yield crops resistant to diseases, pests, and environmental... Read more

Part I

CRISPR Technology- Introduction, Design and Delivery

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Chapter 1 | 

Genome editing: a renewed opportunity for food security

Nayla Munawar and Aftab Ahmad

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Chapter 2 | 

Genome Editing Technologies: A Comprehensive Overview

Muhammad Ibrar, Hira Khursheed, Alman Fatima, Muhammad Zawwad Raza, Muhammad Riaz

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Chapter 3 | 

CRISPR/Cas Systems for Genome Editing: Evolution, Classification, and Applications

Nayla Munawar, Rabail Afzal, Aftab Ahmad

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Chapter 4 | 

CRISPR-Design Technologies: Enhancing Accuracy and Precision in Gene Editing

Aftab Ahmad, Sameer H Qari, Ali Haider, Annena Ijaz, Muhammad Faheem, Anam Niamat, Noor ul Huda, and Muhammad Kashif Zahoor

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Chapter 5 | 

Available Cargoes and their Delivery Tools in Genome Editing

Hassan Zafar, Muhammad Faheem, Anam Niamat, Aftab Ahmad, Ahmad Munir, Muhammad Naeem Khan, Muhammad Naeem

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Part II

CRISPR/Cas Systems and their Applications

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Chapter 6 | 

CRISPR/Cas9: The Mostly Widely Adopted Tool for Genome Editing

Ruben D. Arroyo-Olarte, Karla Daniela Rodríguez-Hernández, Karen Betsabe Miranda Ortega, Ricardo Reyes-Chilpa

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Chapter 7 | 

CRISPR/Cas12: An Emerging CRISPR/Cas System for Precise DNA Manipulation

Neslihan Yaşar, Doğa Selin Kayıhan, Ceyhun Kayıhan, Emre Aksoy

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Chapter 8 | 

Beyond Traditional Gene Editing: Expanding Applications of CRISPR-Cas

Aftab Ahmad, Muhammad Rasheed, Sidra Ashraf, Ayesha Mobeen, Hira Yousaf, Noor ul Huda, Ahmed Al-Harrasi and Sameer H Qari

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Chapter 9 | 

CRISPR Based RNA Editing Systems (Cas13 and Cas7-11) in Plants.

Vijay Sheri, Baohong Zhang

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Chapter 10 | 

CRISPR/Cas Mediated Base Editing in Plants

Aman Prakash, Raj Bahadur Singh, Nidhi Kumari, Pragalbh Tiwari, Sanjana Singh, Shashi Ranjan, Sayanti Mandal

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Chapter 11 | 

Prime Editing through CRISPR/Cas and its Applications in Plants

Revati Wanikar, Priyanjali Dixit, Maya Khater, Medha Dange, Rohini Yevale, Sayanti Mandal

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Chapter 12 | 

From Mobile Genetic Elements to Cutting-Edge Genome Editors: Exploring Retrons, CAST, CRASPase, OMEGA, and Fanzor

Ahmad Munir, Sehrish Sarwar, Paulo Zaini, Aftab Ahmad, Nayla Munawar, Baohong Zhang

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Chapter 13 | 

Plant Genome Editing

Qamar U. Zaman, Darya Khan, Hue Feng Wang, Qiong Hu, Rafaqat Ali Gill

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Part III

Applications of CRISPR in Plant Genetic Improvement to Achieve Food Security

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Chapter 14 | 

Genome Editing for Increasing Yield and Improving Nutritional Quality in Staple Crops

Utku Deniz, Selime Çelik, Emre Aksoy, Ceyhun Kayıhan

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Chapter 15 | 

Multiplex Gene Editing and Its Application: Expanding the Horizons of CRISPR-Cas

Aftab Ahmad, Annena Ijaz, Adeen Ijaz, Sameer H. Qari, Abdul Ghaffar, Ahmed Al-Harrasi, and Baohong Zhang

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Chapter 16 | 

Genome Editing Tools for Biotic Stress Tolerance in Plants

Florencia Alvarez  and Jorge Alberto Zavala

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Chapter 17 | 

Genome Editing Tools For Abiotic Stress Resistance in Plants

Şükran Yıldız, Selin Doğru, İlayda Reis, Dilek Tekdal, Faheem Shahzad Baloch

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Chapter 18 | 

Abiotic Stress Tolerance through CRISPR/Cas9 Mediated Genome Editing in Tomato

Burcu Arıkan, Elif Pulat, Neslihan Turgut Kara, Özgür Çakır

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Chapter 19 | 

Advancing Metabolic Engineering in Plants using CRISPR/Cas

Ahmad Munir, Noor Asma, Sidra Ashraf, Paulo Zaini, Nayla Munawar, Baohong Zhang, Aftab Ahmad

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Chapter 20 | 

Global Regulatory Framework of CRISPR-Edited Plants and Transgene-Free CRISPR Crops

Muhammad Faheem, Aftab Ahmad, Anam Niamat, Muhammad Salman Mubarik, Kamel Abd Elsalam, Ahmed Al-Harrasi, and Paulo Zaini

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Chapter 21 | 

Innovation, Governance and Crop Genome Editing

Krishna Ravi Srinivas

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Chapter 22 | 

Combining CRISPR and AI to Facilitate Food Security and Sustainable Development Goals

Anam Niamat, Aftab Ahmad, Muhammad Faheem, Muhammad Salman Mubarik, and Paulo Zaini

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Chapter 23 | 

The Genome Editing Toolkit for Food Security: Challenges and Opportunities

Waqar Majeed, Noreen Fatima, Aqsa Riaz, Uzma Ramzan, Hammad Ahmad Khan, Muhammad Sarfraz Ahmed, Asma Ayub, Naureen Rana

Biography

Dr. Aftab Ahmad is currently working as an Associate Professor in the Natural and Medical Sciences Research Center (NMSRC), University of Nizwa, Oman. Dr Aftab’s research interests include developing virus resistant and salt-tolerant plants using CRISPR/Cas technology. He has published more than 30 research articles in international peer-reviewed journals including Frontiers in Plant Sciences, Journal of Biomedical Sciences, Scientific Reports-Nature, PLOS One, Journal of Translational Medicine, Plant Molecular Biology Reporter, Molecules, Journal of Cereal Science, and Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution. Dr Aftab pursued his PhD and postdocs in Plant Molecular Biology from the University of Shizuoka, Japan under the Center of Excellence (COE, 21st Century) program. Dr Aftab also served as a visiting scientist in the department of plant sciences, University of California, Davis, USA. Dr Aftab has been teaching biochemistry and molecular biology at UAF and his research focuses in the area of CRISPR/Cas based genome editing in plants.

Dr. Nayla Munawar is currently working as an associate professor of biochemistry at the Department of Chemistry, College of Science, United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), Al-Ain, UAE. Dr. Munawar’s research interests include the synthesis from plants, whole microbial cells, and/or purified enzymes, analysis, and applications of biomaterials. She is interested in different protein and carbohydrate chemistry aspects, especially in the engineering of natural enzymes, molecules interactions, and epigenetic regulatory protein complexes. Her current research motivation is hydrolases, transferases, and dehydrogenase enzymes for the production of novel biomaterials for medical, agriculture, and biotechnological applications. She has published 30 articles in international peer-reviewed journals and 9 book chapters. She is a certified reviewer of MDPI journals and serves as guest editor of “Frontiers in Genome Editing” and “Frontiers in Biotechnology” journals. Dr. Nayla pursued her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Conway Institute, University College Dublin, Ireland in 2011 and then been awarded a postdoc position in the same institute in the field of proteomics and epigenetics. She has served as an assistant lecturer at the Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland, and then joined the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan as an assistant professor. She was offered another postdoc position at the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland in 2016, and then she joined the Department of Chemistry at the United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, UAE in 2019.

Dr. Baohong Zhang is a well-known scientist and distinguished professor in the Department of Biology at East Carolina University (North Carolina, USA). Dr. Zhang received his bachelor’s degree in plant genetics and breeding at China Agricultural University and Ph.D. in environmental toxicology at Texas Tech University. Dr. Zhang not only provides leadership in research activities but also training our next generation scientists and serving our scientific community. He has been working on the field of genomics and biotechnology, including transgenic and genome editing, for more than 20 years, which are support by federal funding agents (NSF, NIH, DoD and USDA) and industries, such as North Carolina Biotechnology Center and DuPont. Dr. Zhang is frequently invited by the international conferences for giving plenary or keynote lectures. During his long and distinguished career, he has published 10 scientific books, including MicroRNAs in Stem Cell, and Transgenic Cotton, published >200 papers at the peer-reviewed international journals. His papers have been cited for more than 19,600 times; many of them were listed as highly cited papers by the ISI Web of Sciences. He is frequently invited to serve on grant reviewing panels, including NSF, USDA, DoE, and European Research Council Executive Agency. Dr. Zhang is also serving as Editor-in-Chief, associate editor or guest editor for 10 international journals, including Functional & Integrative Genomics, Plants, Scientific Reports, Plant Biotechnology Journal, Molecular Biotechnology, Plant Molecular Biology, and Journal of Cotton Research. Dr. Zhang frequently reviews manuscripts for more than 100 international journals, including Nature and Nature Biotechnology. Dr. Zhang has won many prestigious awards, including not only the Cotton Researcher of the year 2018, but also Science/AAAS Excellence in Science (2006), ECU Five Year Research Achievement Award (2013), THCAS Distinguished Professorship (2018). He has collaborated with more than 1,000 scientists from >20 countries and won the inaugural ECU Achievement in International Research and Creative Activity Award (2017). In 2018, he was elected to the Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (2018) and won the Lifetime Achievement Research Award from ECU (2019). In 2020, he also won the Cotton Biotechnology Award.