Field Crop 2025, Vol.8, No.1, 20-31 http://cropscipublisher.com/index.php/fc 20 Case Study Open Access CRISPR Applications in Rice Breeding: Case Studies of Yield and Stress Tolerance Zufang Chen, Deshan Huang, Haiying Huang Hier Rice Research Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resources, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China Corresponding email: haiying.huang@hitar.org Field Crop, 2025, Vol.8, No.1 doi: 10.5376/fc.2025.08.0003 Received: 26 Nov., 2024 Accepted: 11 Jan., 2025 Published: 02 Feb., 2025 Copyright © 2025 Chen et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Chen Z.F., Huang D.S., and Huang H.Y., 2025, CRISPR applications in rice breeding: case studies of yield and stress tolerance, Field Crop, 8(1): 20-31 (doi: 10.5376/fc.2025.08.0003) Abstract This study explored the application of CRISPR/Cas9 technology in rice breeding, focusing on the analysis of cases for improving yield and stress resistance. CRISPR/Cas9 technology achieves targeted modification of specific genes through precise genome editing, thereby enhancing agronomic traits of rice, such as yield, drought resistance, cold tolerance, and salinity tolerance. Studies have shown that using CRISPR/Cas9 to edit multiple genes simultaneously can effectively improve rice's ability to adapt to environmental stress and increase productivity. In addition, future research should focus on expanding the range of target genes, improving editing efficiency and specificity, and combining CRISPR technology with other breeding methods to accelerate the development of rice varieties with complex traits. CRISPR/Cas9 technology is of great significance in sustainable agriculture, helping to achieve food security and reduce dependence on chemical inputs by developing more resilient and high-yielding rice varieties. Keywords CRISPR/Cas9; Rice Breeding; Stress Tolerance; Gene Editing; Yield Improvement 1 Introduction Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is definitely one of the most important food crops in the world-after all, more than half of the world's population relies on it to feed themselves. Although it is indeed highly adaptable and can grow in a variety of environments (which is why it is so important), growing rice is not that simple. Pests and diseases are a headache, and bacteria and fungi are not quiet, not to mention various viruses and pests that come to cause trouble. The weather is also not worrying. Saline-alkali land, drought, extreme temperatures, and other abiotic stresses are also troublesome (Farhat et al., 2019; Romero and Gatica-Arias, 2019; Zeng et al., 2020). Not only does the yield drop, but even the quality and nutrition of rice are affected. Of course, people have tried to use traditional breeding to solve the problem and cultivate varieties with strong resistance and high yield, but to be honest, these old methods are not very efficient, time-consuming, labor-intensive, and not necessarily accurate (Nazir et al., 2022; Park et al., 2022). Agricultural breeding has made a big breakthrough in recent years-the emergence of CRISPR/Cas9 technology has made genome editing like "precision guidance". You know, traditional breeding can take ten or eight years, but now? You can directly target the key genes that control stress resistance and high yield to start the transformation (Ricroch et al., 2017; Romero and Gatica-Arias, 2019; Tang et al., 2023). The most powerful thing about this technology is its flexibility. If you want to "shut up" the gene, just knock it out, and if you want to enhance the expression, just overexpress it. It is simply a universal toolbox. Take rice as an example. Scientists have tinkered with genes such as OsPIN5b and GS3, and have really come up with new varieties that are both high-yielding and cold-resistant (Zeng et al., 2020). What’s even more amazing is that rice is no longer afraid of saline-alkali land. After genes such as OsRR22 are edited, rice can actually survive well in a high-salt environment (Zhang et al., 2019; Wang, 2024)-in the past, it was impossible to grow decent crops in such land. The main purpose of this study is to see how much change CRISPR technology can bring to rice breeding-to put it bluntly, it is to focus on those successful cases that can increase yields and enhance stress resistance. There are too many troubles in growing rice now, either pests and diseases or extreme weather, and CRISPR/Cas9 technology
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