Genome Editing in Medicinal Plants Using CRISPR/Cas9 Tool

Medicinal plants have gained popularity in the medical field as herbal remedies due to their beneficial secondary metabolites content. Secondary metabolites and derivatives are also in high demand in medicines and phytotherapy. Environmental factors such as biotic and abiotic stresses influence the synthesis and quality of secondary metabolites. Genetic modification technologies provide strategies to enhance the production of secondary metabolites. Recent genome editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) is a potential tool for targeted mutagenesis, gene knockouts, and regulation of gene transcription in plants. This technique has enabled manipulation by modifying the genes that play a key role in the biosynthetic pathway and production of specific plant secondary metabolites (alkaloids, terpenoids, flavonoids, phenolics, saponins, etc.). This chapter aims to explain the importance and necessity of the CRISPR/Cas9 technology in medical plants. The potential of this technology over classical breeding, its limitations in medicinal plants, and the various important secondary metabolites and their applications in the pharmaceutical industry have been discussed.