Bioscience Method 2024, Vol.15, No.1, 8-19 http://bioscipublisher.com/index.php/bm 18 edited through CRISPR/Cas9 technology, thus accelerating the crop improvement process. This integrated approach can not only improve crop yield, stress resistance and quality, but also speed up the breeding process and reduce the breeding cycle. The introduction of CRISPR/Cas9 technology makes editing specific genes simple and precise. By designing specific sgRNA, the CRISPR/Cas9 system can accurately identify and cut the target site on the genome, thereby achieving the knockout, knock-in or modification of specific genes. Compared with traditional breeding techniques, this method can directly improve crop traits at the molecular level, greatly shortening the breeding cycle and reducing unnecessary genetic background changes. For example, research on applying CRISPR/Cas9 technology to improve crop quality has made progress in multiple areas, including the modulation of appearance, taste, nutritional content and other preferred traits. This method has been used to improve traits of nearly 20 crop varieties, including yield improvement, biotic and abiotic stress management, etc. (Abdelraheem et al., 2021). Many of the findings are considered proofs of concept, describing how the CRISPR/Cas9 system can be applied by knocking out specific important genes reported in GWAS. (CREs) in crops to improve many important agricultural traits. As CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology continues to improve, research using GWAS to increase the agronomic value of crops is expected to further increase. Through these studies, CRISPR/Cas9 technology has demonstrated its great potential in accelerating crop trait improvement and realizing precision breeding strategies. In the future, with more research progress on the combined application of CRISPR/Cas9 and GWAS, it is expected that more breakthroughs will be achieved in crop improvement, improving crop yield, quality and stress resistance to meet the growing global food demand. 5 Conclusion GWAS have made remarkable achievements in revealing crop genetic diversity and promoting crop improvement. Through GWAS, scientists can identify genetic markers and genes related to important agronomic traits on a genome-wide scale, which provides a powerful tool for understanding the genetic basis of crop traits and implementing precision breeding. Especially in the study of key traits such as crop stress resistance, yield improvement, and quality improvement, GWAS has demonstrated its unique value and potential. However, GWAS also faces a series of challenges in practice, including the complexity of population structure, the difficulty of detecting rare variants and small-effect variants, the complexity of result interpretation, and the analysis and management of big data. To fully realize the potential of GWAS in the study of crop genetic diversity, we must continue to promote technological and methodological innovation, including improving the accuracy of statistical analysis methods, developing analysis platforms that can effectively integrate multi-omics data, and exploring more efficient Candidate gene validation and functional validation pathways. In the future, GWAS has broad application prospects, especially when combined with emerging genome editing technologies such as CRISPR/Cas9, which can achieve more efficient improvement of crop traits. Key genes or genetic variations identified through GWAS can become direct targets of gene editing technologies such as CRISPR/Cas9, thereby accelerating the crop improvement process (Berhe et al., 2021). In addition, integrating multi-omics data such as transcriptomics and proteomics with GWAS results can not only improve the accuracy of trait analysis, but also provide a deeper understanding of the complex molecular mechanisms of trait formation. While promoting the application of GWAS, we should also pay attention to its impact on the utilization of crop genetic resources. Genetic diversity is a valuable resource for crop improvement. The protection and rational utilization of crop genetic resources, especially those in wild relatives of crops, is of great significance for maintaining crop genetic diversity, promoting crop adaptation to environmental changes, and sustainable development.
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