| Abstrakt: |
Plant cytogenetics has always been an exciting area of research as it deals primarily with the structure and behaviour of chromosomes. The foundation of Plant Cytogenetics was laid by Barbara McClintock almost about a century ago with her pioneering work on maize. Over the years, plant cytogenetics has revolutionized our understanding of plant biology and provided crucial tools for advancements in agriculture. Studies on chromosome alterations, including duplications, deletions, inversions, and translocations have helped in developing strategies to improve traits such as yield, disease resistance, and drought tolerance, especially in crop plants. Molecular tools, such as fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), enabled researchers to precisely locate and characterize chromosomal changes. This is vital for genome mapping, genetic engineering, and identifying genes linked to particular traits. In the last decade or so, many advancement in editing the plant genomes have been made. These include targeted changes in single genes or global scale chromosome engineering. Although, chromosome alterations have been known to occur naturally or have been induced through chemical and physical mutagenesis, yet CRISPR/Cas has become an excellent tool to induce such alterations or chromosomal rearrangements in target specific manner. The present review attempts to analyze these recent developments from the perspective of cytogenetics and demonstrates how the new tools of genome editing have enriched the arsenal of cytogeneticists. It may not be an exaggeration to say that CRISPR/Cas has the potential to drive evolutionary-like changes, while also creating innovative solutions to the challenges faced by humanity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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