Transgenic technology and gene silencing offer new solutions to time-consuming conventional breeding programs applied to important crops including potato. Researchers Sona Dev, Jini Joseph, and Ligi D' Rosario presented the prospects for genome editing of potato in an open-access peer-reviewed chapter in IntechOpen.
According to the authors, genetically modified crops face regulatory hurdles and safety concerns. Thus, they suggest the use of genome editing techniques such as ZFNs (zinc-finger nucleases), TALENs (transcription activator-like effector nucleases), and CRISPR-Cas9 (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR associated Cas9). These tools offer a better choice of production of transgene and marker-free disease-resistant potatoes.
